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THE PERSONAL LIFE 



OF 



DAVID LIVINGSTONE 

LL.D., D.C.L. 



CHIEFLY FROM HIS 

UNPUBLISHED JOURNALS AND CORRESPONDENCE 

IN TEE POSSESSION OF HIS FAMILY 



WILLIAM GARDEN BLAIKIE, D.D., LL.D. 



NEW COLLEGE, EDINBURGH 



Wiitl) portrait anU ^tlap 




NEW YORK 

HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE 

1881 



s\ 



it 






PREFACE. 

The purpose of this work is to make the world better 
acquainted with the character of Livingstone. His dis- 
coveries and researches have been given to the public in 
his own books, but his modesty led him to say little in 
these of himself, and those who knew him best feel that 
little is known of the strength of his affections, the depth 
and purity of his devotion, or the intensity of his aspira- 
tions as a Christian missionary. The growth of his char- 
acter and the providential shaping of his career are also 
matters of remarkable interest, of which not much has 
yet been made known. 

An attempt has been made in this volume, likewise, 
to present a more complete history of his life than has yet 
appeared. Many chapters of it are opened up of which 
the public have hitherto known little or nothing. It has 
not been deemed necessary to dwell on events recorded in 
his published Travels, except for the purpose of connecting 
the narrative and making it complete. Even on these, 
however, it has been found that not a little new light 
and colour may be thrown from his correspondence with 
his friends and his unpublished Journals. 

Much pains has been taken to show the unity and 



iv PREFACE. 

symmetry of his character. As a man, a Christian, a 
missionary, a philanthropist, and a scientist, Livingstone 
ranks with the greatest of our race, and shows the 
minimum of infirmity in connection with the maximum 
of goodness. Nothing can be more telling than his 
life as an evidence of the truth and power of Chris- 
tianity, as a plea for Christian Missions and civilisation, 
or as a demonstration of the true connection between 
religion and science. 

So many friends have helped in this book that it is 
impossible to thank all in a preface. Most of them are 
named in the body of the work. Special acknowledg- 
ments, however, are due to the more immediate members 
of Dr. Livingstone's family, at whose request the work 
was undertaken ; also to his sisters, the Misses Livingstone 
of Hamilton, to Mr. Young of Kelly, to the venerable 
Dr. Moffat, and Mrs. Vavasseur his daughter. The use of 
valuable collections of letters has been given by the fol- 
lowing (in addition to the friends already named) : — The 
Directors of the London Missionary Society ; Dr. BAsdon 
Bennett ; Rev. G. D. Watt ; Rev. Joseph Moore ; Rev. 
W. Thompson, Cape Town ; J. B. Braithwaite, Esq. ; 
representatives of the late Sir R. I. Murchison, Bart., and 
of the late Sir Thomas Maclear ; Rev. Horace Waller, 
Mr. and Mrs. Webb of Newstead Abbey, Mr. F. Fitch, of 
London, Rev. Dr. Stewart of Lovedale, and Senhor Nunes 
of Quilimane. Other friends have forwarded letters of 
less importance. Some of the letters have reached the 
hands of the writer after the completion of the book, 
and have therefore been used bat sparingly. 



PREFACE. v 

The recovery of an important private journal of Dr. 
Livingstone, which had been lost at the time when the 
Missionary Travels was published, has thrown much new 
light on the part of his life immediately preceding his 
first great journey. 

In the spelling of African proper names, Dr. Moffat has 
given valuable help. Usually Livingstone's own spelling 
has been followed. 

A Map has been specially prepared, in which the 

geographical references in the volume are shown, which 

will enable the reader to follow Livingstone's movements 

from place to place. 

With so much material, it would have been easier to 

write a life in two volumes than in one ; but for obvious 

reasons it has been deemed desirable to restrict it to the 

present limits. The author could wish for no higher 

honour than to have his name associated with that of 

Livingstone, and can desire no greater pleasure than that 

of conveying to other minds the impressions that have 

been left on his own. 

W. G. BLAIK1E. 

Edinburgh, 9 Palmerston Eoad. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

EARLY YEARS. 
a.d. 1813-1836. 

PAGE 

Ulva — The Livingstones — Traditions of Ulva life — The " Baugh ting-time" — 
" Kirsty's Bock " — Removal of Livingstone's grandfather to Blantyre — 
Highland blood — Neil Livingstone — His marriage to Agnes Hnnter — Her 
grandfather and father — Monument to Neil and Agnes Livingstone in 
Hamilton Cemetery — David Livingstone born 19th March 1813 — Boyhood 
— At home — In school — David goes into Blantyre Mill— First earnings — 
Night-school — His habits of reading — Natural-history expeditions — Great 
spiritual change in his twentieth year — Dick's Philosophy of a Future 
State — He resolves to be a missionary — Influence of occupation at Blantyre 
— Sympathy with the people — Thomas Burke and David Hogg — Practical 
character of his religion, .......... 1 



CHAPTER II. 

MISSIONARY PREPARATION. 

a.d. 1836-1840. 

His desire to be a missionary to China — Medical missions — He studies at 
Glasgow — Classmates and teachers — He applies to London Missionary 
Society — His ideas of mission- work — He is accepted provisionally — He 
goes to London — to Ongar — Reminiscences by Bev. Joseph Moore — by 
Mrs. Gilbert — by Bev. Isaac Taylor — Nearly rejected by the Directors — 
Beturns to Ongar — to London — Letter to his sister — Reminiscences by 
Dr. Bisdon Bennett — Promise to Professor Owen — Impression of his 
character on his friends and fellow-students — Bev. B. Moffat in England 
— Livingstone interested — Could not be sent to China — Is appointed to 
Africa — Providential links in his history — -Illness — Last visits to his 
home — Receives Medical diploma — Parts from his family, . . .18 



viii CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER III. 

FIRST TWO YEARS IN AFRICA. 
a.d. 1841-1843. 

PAGE 

His ordination — Voyage out — At Eio de Janeiro — At the Cape— He proceeds 
to Kuruman — Letters — Journey of 700 miles to Bechuana country — Selec- 
tion of site for new station — Second excursion to Bechuana country — Letter 
to his sister — Influence with chiefs — Bubi — Construction of a water-dam 
— Sekomi — Woman seized by a lion — The Bakaa — Sebehwe — Letter to 
Dr. Iiisdon Bennett — Detention at Kuruman — He visits Sebehwe's village 
— Bakhatlas — Sechele, chief of Bakwains — Livingstone translates hymns 
— Travels 400 miles on oxback — Beturns to Kuruman — Is authorised to 
form new station — Receives contributions for native missionary — Letters 
to Directors on their Mission policy — He goes to new station- — Fellow- 
travellers — Purchase of site — Letter to Dr. Bennett — Desiccation of 
South Africa — Death of a servant, Sehamy — Letter to his parents, . 37 

CHAPTER IV. 

FIRST TWO STATIONS — MABOTSA AND CHONUANE 
a.d. 1S43-1847. 

Description of Mabotsa — A favourite hymn — General reading — Mabotsa 
infested with lions — Livingstone's encounter — The native deacon who 
saved him — His Sunday-school — Marriage to Mary Moffat — Work at 
Mabotsa — Proposed institution for training native agents — Letter to his 
mother — Trouble at Mabotsa — Noble sacrifice of Livingstone — Goes to 
Sechele and the Bakwains — New station at Chonuane — Interest shown 
by Sechele — Journeys eastward — The Boers and the Transvaal — Their 
occupation of the country, and treatment of the natives — Work among 
the Bakwains — Livingstone's desire to move on — Theological conflict at 
home — His view of it — His scientific labours and. miscellaneous employ- 
ments, Co 

CHAPTER V. 

THIRD STATION — KOLOBENG. 

a.d. 1847-1852. 

Want of rain at Chonuaue — Removal to Kolobeng— House-building and 
public works— Hopeful prospects — Letters to Mr. Watt, his sister, and 
Dr. Bennett — The church at Kolobeng — Pure communion — Conversion of 
Sechele — Letter from his brother Charles — His history — Livingstone's 



CONTENTS. ix 

PAGE 

relations with the Boers — He cannot get native teachers planted in the 
east — Eesolves to explore northwards— Extracts from Journal — Scarcity 
of water — Wild animals and other risks — Custom -house robberies and 
annoyances — Visit from Secretary of London Missionary Society — Mani- 
fold employments of Livingstone— Studies in Sichuana — His reflection on 
this period of his life while detained at Manyuema iu 1870, . • .84 



CHAPTER VI. 

KOLOBENG continued — LAKE 'NGAMI. 

A.d. 1849-1852. 

Kolobeng failing through drought— Sebituane's country and the Lake 
'Ngami — Livingstone sets out with Messrs. Oswell and Murray — Rivers 
Zouga and Tamanak'le — Old ideas of the interior revolutionised — Enthu- 
siasm of Livingstone — Discovers Lake '"Ngami — Obliged to return — Prize 
from Royal Geographical Society— Second expedition to the lake, with 
wife and children — Children attacked by fever — Again obliged to return 
— Conviction as to healthier spot beyond — Idea of finding passage to sea 
either west or east — Birth and death of a child — Family visits Kuruman 
— Third expedition, again with family — He hopes to find a new locality — 
Perils of the journey — He reaches Sebituane — The Chief's illness and 
death — Distress of Livingstone — Mr. Oswell and he go on to Linyanti — 
Discovery of the Upper Zambesi — No locality found for settlement — More 
extended journey necessary — He returns — Birth of Oswell Livingstone — 
Crisis in Livingstone's life — His guiding principles — New plans — The 
Makololo begin to practise slave-trade — New thoughts about commerce — 
Letters to Directors — The Bakwains — Pros and cons of his new plan — 
His unabated missionary zeal — He goes with his family to the Cape — His 
literary activity, 9S 



CHAPTER VII. 

FROM THE CAPE TO LINYANTI. 
a.d. 1852-1853. 

Unfavourable feeling at Cape Town — Departure of Mrs. Livingstone and 
children — Livingstone's detention and difficulties — Letter to his wife — to 
Agnes — Occupations at Cape Town — The Astronomer- Royal — Livingstone 
leaves the Cape and reaches Kuruman — Destruction of Kolobeng by the 
Boers — Letters to his wife and Rev. J. Moore — His resolution to open up 
Africa or perish — Arrival at Linyanti — Unhealthiness of the country — 
Thoughts on setting out for coast — Sekeletu's kindness — Livingstone's 
missionary activity — Death of Mpepe, and of his father — Meeting with 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Ma-mochisane — Barotse country — Determines to go to Loanda — Heathen- 
ism unadulterated — Taste for the beautiful — Letter to his children — to his 
father — Last Sunday at Linyanti — Prosjiect of his falling, . . . 129 



CHAPTEP VIII. 

FROM LINYANTI TO LOANDA. 

a.d. 1853-1854 

Difficulties and hardships of journey — His travelling kit — Four books — His 
Journal— Mode of travelling — Beauty of country — Repulsiveness of the 
people — Their religious belief — The negro — Preaching — The magic 
lantern — Loneliness of feeling — Slave-trade — Management of the natives 
— Danger from Chiboque — from another chief — Livingstone ill of fever — 
At the Quango — Attachment of followers — " The good time coming " — 
Portuguese settlements — Great kindness of the Portuguese — Arrives at 
Loanda — Beceived by Mr. Gabriel — His great friendship — No letters — 
News through Mr. Gabriel — Livingstone becomes acquainted with naval 
officers — Resolves to go back to Linyanti and make for East Coast — Letter 
to his wife — Correspondence with Mr. Maclear — Accuracy of his observa- 
tions — Sir John Herschei — Geographical Society award their gold medal 
— Remarks of Lord Ellesmere, 153 



CHAPTER IX. 

FROM LOANDA TO QUILIMANE. 

A.D. 1854-1856. 

Livingstone sets out from Loanda — Journey back — Effects of slavery — 
Letter to his wife — Severe attack of fever — He reaches the Barotse coun- 
try — Day of thanksgiving — His efforts for the good of his men — Anxieties 
of the Moffats — Mr. Moffat's journey to Mosilikatse — Box at Linyanti — 
Letter from Mrs. Moffat — Letters to Mrs. Livingstone, Mr. Moffat, and 
Mrs. Moffat — Kindness of Sekeletu — New escort — He sets out for the 
East Coast — Discovers the Victoria Falls— The healthy longitudinal ridges 
— Pedestrianism — Great dangers — Narrow escapes — Triumph of the spirit 
of trust in God — Favourite texts — Preference to Captain M'Clure's experi- 
ence — Chief subjects of thought — Structm*e of the continent — Sir Roderick 
Murchison anticipates his discovery — Letters to Geographical Society — 
First letter from Sir Roderick Murchison — Missionary labour — Monas- 
teries — Protestant mission-stations wanting in self-support — Letter to 
Directors — Fever not so serious an obstruction as it seemed — His own 
hardships — Theories of mission-work — Expansions. Concentration — Views 



CONTENTS. xi 

PAGE 

of a missionary statesman — He reaches Tette — Letter to King of Portugal 
— to Sir Roderick Murchison — Beaches Senna — Quilimane — Retrospect — 
Letter from Directors — Goes to Mauritius — Voyage home — Narrow escape 
from shipwreck in Bay of Tunis — He reaches England, Dec. 1856 — News 
of his father's death, 170 



CHAPTER X. 

FIRST VISIT HOME. 
A.D. 1856-1857. 

Mrs. Livingstone — Her intense anxieties— Her poetical welcome — Congratu- 
latory letters from Mrs. and Dr. Moffat — Meeting of welcome of Boyal 
Geographical Society — of London Missionary Society — Meeting in Mansion 
House — Enthusiastic public meeting at Cape Town — Livingstone visits 
Hamilton — Returns to London to write his book — Letter to Mr. Maclear 
— Dr. Bisdon Bennett's reminiscences of this period — Mr. Frederick Fitch's 
— Interview with Prince Consort — Honours — Publication and great success 
of Missionary Travels — Character and design of the book — Why it was 
not more of a missionary record — Handsome conduct of publisher — 
Generous use of the profits — Letter to a lady in Carlisle vindicating the 
character of his speeches, ....... . 198 



CHAPTER XL 

first visit home — continued. 

a.d. 1857-1858. 

Livingstone at Dublin, at British Association — Letter to his wife — He meets 
the Chamber of Commerce at Manchester — At Glasgow, receives honours 
from Corporation, University, Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons, United 
Presbyterians, Cotton-spinners — His speeches in reply — His brother 
Charles joins him — Interesting meeting and speech at Hamilton — Becep- 
tion from "Literary and Scientific Institute of Blantyre " — Sympathy 
with operatives — Quick apprehension of all public questions — His social 
views in advance of the age — He plans a People's Cafe — Visit to Edin- 
burgh — More honours — better to Mr. Maclear — Interesting visit to Cam- 
bridge — Lectures there — Professor Sedgwick's remarks on his visit — > 
Livingstone's great satisfaction — Belations to London Missionary Society 
— He severs his connection — Proposal of Government expedition — He 
accepts consulship and command of expedition — Kindness of Lords 



:ii CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Palmerston and Clarendon — The Portuguese Ambassador — Livingstone 
proposes to go to Portugal — Is dissuaded — Lord Clarendon's letter to 
Sekeletu — Results of Livingstone's visit to England — Farewell banquet, 
February 1S58 — Interview with the Queen — Valedictory letters — Professor 
Sedgwick and Sir Roderick Murchison — Arrangements for expedition — 
Dr., Mrs., and Oswald Livingstone set sail from Liverpool — Letters to 
children, 217 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE ZAMBESI, AND FIRST EXPLORATIONS OF THE SHIRE. 

a.d. 858-1859. 

Dr. and Mrs. Livingstone sail in the "Pearl " — Characteristic instructions to 
members of Expedition — Dr. Livingstone conscious of difficult position — 
Letter to Robert — Sierra Leone — Effects of British Squadron and of 
Christian Missions — Dr. and Mrs. Moffat at Cape Town — Splendid recep- 
tion there — Illness of Mrs. Livingstone — She remains behind — The five 
years of the Expedition — Letter to Mr. James Youug — to Dr. Moffat — 
Kongone entrance to Zambesi — Collision with Naval Officer — Disturbed 
state of the country — Trip to Kebrabasa Rapids — Dr. Livingstone applies 
for new steamer — Willing to pay for one himself — Exploration of the 
Shire — Murchison Cataracts — Extracts from private Journal — Discovery 
of Lake Shirwa — Correspondence — Letter to Agnes Livingstone — Trip to 
Tette — Kroomen and two members of Expedition dismissed — Livingstone's 
vindication — Discovery of Lake Nyassa — Bright hopes for the future — 
Idea of a colony — Generosity of Livingstone — Letters to Mr. Maclear, 
Mr. Young, and Sir Roderick Murchison — His sympathy with the 
" honest poor " — He hears of the birth of his youngest daughter, . . 241 



CHAPTER XIII. 

GOING HOME WITH THE MAKOLOLO. 
A.D. 1860. 

Down to Kongone — State of the ship — Further delay — Letter to Secretary 
of Universities Mission — Letter to Mr. Braithwaite — At Tette — Miss 
Whately's sugar-mill — With his brother and Kirk it Kebrabasa — Mode of 
travelling — Reappearance of old friends — African warfare and its effects 
— Desolation — A European colony desirable — Escape from rhinoceros — 
Rumours of Moffat — The Portuguese local Governors oppose Livingstone 
— He becomes unpopular with them — Letter to Mr. Young — Wants of the 



CONTENTS. xiii 

PAGE 

country — The Makololo — Approach home — Some are disappointed — News 
of the death of the London missionaries, the Helmores and others — Letter 
to Dr. Moffat— The Victoria Falls re-examined— Sekeletu ill of leprosy- 
Treatment and recovery — His disappointment at not seeing Mrs. Living. 
stone — Efforts for the spiritual good of the Makololo — Careful observa- 
tions in Natural History— The last of the "Ma-Robert" — Cheering 
l^rospect of the Universities Mission — Letter to Mr. Moore — to Mr. 
Young — He wishes another ship — Letter to Sir Roderick Murchison on 
the rumoured journey of Silva Porto, 26<3 



CHAPTER XIV. 

ROVUMA AND NYASSA — UNIVERSITIES MISSION. 

a.d. 1861-1862. 

Beginning of 1 SOI — Arrival of the "Pioneer," and of the agents of Univer- 
sities Mission — Cordial welcome — Livingstone's catholic feelings — Ordered 
to explore the Rovuma — Bishop Mackenzie goes with him — Returns to 
the Shire — Turning-point of prosperity past — Difficult navigation — The 
slave-sticks — Bishop settles at Magomero — Hostilities between Manganja 
and Ajawa — Attack of Mission party by Ajawa — Livingstone's advice to 
Bishop regarding them — Letter to his son Robert — Livingstone, Kirk, and 
Charles start for Lake Nyassa — Party robbed at north of Lake — Dismal 
activity of the slave-trade — Awful mortality in the process — Livingstone's 
fondness for Punch — Letter to Mr. Young — Joy at departure of new 
steamer " Lady Nyassa "—Colonisation project — Letter against it from 
Sir R. Murchison — Hears of Dr. Stewart coming out from Free Church of 
Scotland — Visit at the ship from Bishop Mackenzie — News of defeat of 
Ajawa by missionaries — Anxiety of Livingstone — Arrangements for 
"Pioneer" to go to Kongone for new steamer and friends from home, 
then go to Ruo to meet Bishop — "Pioneer" detained — Dr. Livingstone's 
anxieties and depression at New Year — "Pioneer" misses man-of-war 
" Gorgon " — At length " Gorgon " appears with brig from England and 
"Lady Nyassa" — Mrs. Livingstone and other ladies on board — Living- 
stone's meeting with his wife, and with Dr. Stewart — Stewart's recollec- 
tions — Difficulties of navigation — Captain Wilson of "Gorgon" goes up 
river and hears of death of Bishop Mackenzie and Mr. Burrup — Great 
distress — Misrepresentations about Universities Mission — Miss Mackenzie 
and Mrs. Burrup taken to "Gorgon" — Dr. and Mrs. Livingstone return 
to Shupanga — Illness and death of Mrs. Livingstone there — Extracts 
from Livingstone's Journal, and letters to the Moffats, Agnes, and the 
Murcbisons, • • « • • « 282 



xiv CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XV. 

LAST TWO YEARS OF THE EXPEDITION. 
A.D. 1862-1863. 

PAGE 

Livingstone again buckles on his armour — Letter to Waller — Launch of 
"Lady Nyassa" — Too late for season — He explores the Rovuma — Fresh 
activity of the slave-trade — Letter to Governor of Mozambique about his 
discoveries — Letter to Sir Thomas Maclear — Generous offer of a party of 
Scotchmen — The Expedition proceeds up Zambesi with " Lady Nyassa " 
in tow — Appalling desolations of Marianno — Tidings of the Mission — 
Death of Scudamore — of Dickenson — of Thornton — Illness of Livingstone 
— Dr. Kirk and Charles Livingstone go home — He proceeds northwards 
with Mr. Rae and Mr. E. D. Young of the " Gorgon" — Attempt to carry 
a boat over the rapids — Defeated — Recall of the Expedition — Livingstone's 
views — Letter to Mr. James Young — to Mr. Waller — Feeling of the 
Portuguese Government — Offer to the Eev. Dr. Stewart — Great dis- 
couragements — Why did he not go home? — Proceeds to explore Nyassa 
— Risks and sufferings — Occupation of his mind — Natural History — 
Obliged to turn back — More desolation — Report of his murder — Kindness 
of Chinsamba — Reaches the ship — Letter from Bishop Tozer, abandoning 
the Mission — Distress of Livingstone — Letter to Sir Thomas Maclear — 
Progress of Dr. Stewart — Livingstonia — Livingstone takes charge of the 
children of the Universities Mission — Letter to his daughter — Retrospect 
— The work of the Expedition — Livingstone's plans for the future, . . 306 



CHAPTEE XVI. 

QUILIMANE TO BOMBAY AND ENGLAND. 

a.d. 186L 

Livingstone returns the "Pioneer" to the Navy, and is to sail in the 
"Nyassa" to Bombay — Terrific circular storm — Imminent peril of the 
" Nyassa" — He reaches Mozambique — Letter to his daughter — Proceeds 
to Zanzibar — His engineer leaves him — Scanty crew of " Nyassa " — 
Livingstone captain and engineer — Peril of the voyage of 2500 miles — 

Risk of the monsoons — The " Nyassa " becalmed — Illness of the men 

Remarks on African travel— Flying-fish— Dolphins— Curiosities of his 
Journal — Idea of a colony — Furious squall — Two sea-serpents seen — More 
squalls — The "Nyassa" enters Bombay harbour — Is unnoticed — First 
visit from officer with Custom-house schedules — How filled up — Attention 
of Sir Bartle Frere and others — Livingstone goes with the Governor to 
Dapuri— His feelings on landing in India— Letter to Sir Thomas Maclear 

— He visits mission-schools, etc., at Poonah — Slaving in Persian Gulf 

Returns to Bombay — Leaves two boys with Dr. Wilson — Borrows pas- 



CONTENTS. xv 

PAGE 

sage-money and sails for England — At Aden — At Alexandria— Reaches 
Charing Cross — Encouragement derived from his Bombay visit — Two 
projects contemplated on his "way home? ....... 325 



CHAPTER XVII. 

SECOND VISIT HOME. 

a.d. 1864-1865. 

Dr. Livingstone and Sir It. Murchison — At Lady Palmerston's reception — at 
other places in London — Sad news of his son Robert — His early death 
--Dr. Livingstone goes to Scotland — Pays visits — Consultation with 
Professor Synie as to operation — Visit to Duke of Ai'gyll — to Ulva — He 
meets Dr. Duff — At launch of a Turkish frigate — At Hamilton — Goes 
to Bath to British Association — Delivers an address — Dr. Colenso — At 
funeral of Captain Speke — Bath speech offends the Portuguese — Charges 
of Lacerda — He visits Mr. and Mrs. Webb at Newstead — Their great 
hospitality — The Livingstone room— He spends eight months there writing 
bis book — He regains elasticity and playfulness — His book — Charles 
Livingstone's share — He uses his influence for Dr. Kirk — Delivers a lecture 
at Mansheld — Proposal made to him by Sir P. Murchison to return to 
Africa — Letter from Sir Roderick — His reply — He will not cease to be a 
missionary — Letter to Mr. James Young — Overtures from Foreign Office 
— Livingstone displeased — At dinner of Royal Academy — His speech not 
reported — President Lincoln's assassination — Examination by Committee 
of House of Commons — His opinion on the capacity of the negro — He 
goes down to Scotland — Tom Brown's School Days — His mother very ill - 
— She rallies — He goes to Oxford — Hears of his mother's death — Returns 
— He attends examination of Os well's school — His speech — Goes to 
London, preparing to leave — Parts from Mr. and Mrs. Webb — Stays with 
Dr. and Mrs. Hamilton — Last days in England, 33S 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

FROM ENGLAND TO BOMBAY AND ZANZIBAR. 

a.d. 1865-1866. 

Object of new journey — Double scheme — He goes to Paris with Agnes — 
Baron Hausmann — Anecdote at Marseilles — He reaches Bombay — Letter 
to Agnes — Reminiscences of Dr. Livingstone at Bombay by Rev. D. C. 
Boyd — by Alex. Brown, Esq. — Livingstone's dress — He visits the caves 
of Kenhari — Rumours of murder of Baron van der Decken — He delivers a 
lecture at Bombay — Great success — He sells the "Lady Nyassa" — Letter 
to Mr. James Young — Letter to Anna Mary — Hears that Dr. Kirk has got 



vi CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

an appointment — Sets out for Zanzibar in " Thule " — Letter to Mr. James 
Young — His experience at sea — Letter to Agnes — He reaches Zanzibar — 
Calls on Sultan — Presents the "Thule " to him from Bombay Government 
— Monotony of Zanzibar^ life — Leaves in "Fenguin" for the continent, . 358 



CHAPTEE XIX. 

FROM ZANZIBAR TO UJIJ1. 

a.d. 1866-1869. 

Dr. Livingstone goes to mouth of Rovuma — His prayer — His company — His 
herd of animals — Loss of his buffaloes — Good spirits when setting out — 
Difficulties at Rovuma — Bad conduct of Johanna men — Dismissal of his 
Sepoys — Fresh horrors of slave-trade — Uninhabited tract — He reaches 
Lake N/yassa — Letter to his son Thomas — Disappointed hopes — His 
double aim, to teach natives and rouse horror of slave-trade — Tenor of 
religious addresses — Wikatami remains behind — Livingstone finds no alto- 
gether satisfactory station for commerce and missions — Question of the 
watershed — Was it worth the trouble ? — Overruled for good to Africa — 
Opinion of Sir Bartle Frere — At Marenga's — The Johanna men leave in a 
body — Circulate rumour of his murder — Sir Roderick disbelieves it — Mr. 
E. D. Young sent out with Search Expedition — Finds proof against 
rumour — Livingstone half-starved — Loss of his goats — Review of 1866 — 
Reflections on Divine Providence — Letter to Thomas — His dog drowned 
— Loss of his medicine-chest — He feels sentence of death passed on him — 
First sight of Lake Tanganyika — Detained at Chitimba's — Discovery of 
Lake Moero — Occupations during detention of 1867 — Great privations and 
difficulties — Illness — Rebellion among his men — Discovery of Lake Bang- 
weolo — Its oozy banks — Detention — Sufferings — He makes for Ujiji — Very 
severe illness in beginning of 1869 — Reaches CJjiji — Finds his goods have 
been wasted and stolen — Most bitter disappointment — His medicines, etc., 
at Unyanyembe — Letter to Sultan of Zanzibar— Letters to Dr. Moffat and 
his daughter, 370 



CHAPTER XX. 

MANYUEMA. 
A.D. 1869-1871. 

He sets out to explore Manyuema and the river Lualaba — Loss of forty-two 
letters— His feebleness through illness — He arrives at Bambarre — Becomes 
acquainted with the soko or gorilla— Reaches the Luama river— Magni- 
ficence of the country— Repulsiveness of the people— Cannot get a canoe 



CONTENTS. xvii 

PAGE 

to explore the Lualaba — Has to return to Bambarre — Letter to Thomas, 
and retrospect of his life — Letter to Sir Thomas Maclear and Mr. Mann — 
Miss Tinne — He is worse in health than ever, yet resolves to add to his 
programme and go round Lake Bangweolo — Letter to Agnes — Review of 
the past — He sets out anew in a more northerly direction — Overpowered 
by constant wet- — Breaches Nyangwe, the farthest point westward in his 
last expedition — Long detention — Letter to his brother John — Sense of 
difficulties and troubles — Nobility of his spirit — He sets off with only three 
attendants for the Lualaba — Suspicions of the natives — Influence of Arab 
traders — Frightful difficulties of the way — Lamed b} T foot-sores — Has to 
return to Bambarre — Long and wearisome detention — Occupations — 
Meditations and reveries — Death no terror— Unparalleled position and 
trials — He reads his Bible from beginning to end four times — Letter to 
Sir Thomas Maclear- — to Agnes — His delight at her sentiments about his 
coming home — Account of the soko — Grief to hear of death of Lady 
Murchison — Wretched character of men sent from Zanzibar — At last sets 
out with Mohamad — Difficulties — Slave-trade most horrible — Cannot get 
canoes for Lualaba — Long waiting — New plan — Frustrated by horrible 
massacre on banks of Lualaba — Frightful scene — He must return to Ujiji 
— New illness — Perils of journey to Ujiji — Life three times endangered in 
one day — Reaches Ujiji — Shereef has sold off his goods — He is almost in 
despair — Meets Henry M. Stanley and is relieved — His contributions to 
Natural Science during last journeys — Professor Owen in the Quarterly 
Review, 391 



CHAPTER XXI. 

LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY. 

a.d. 1871-1872. 

Mr. Gordon Bennett sends Stanley in search of Livingstone — Stanley at 
Zanzibar— Starts for Ujiji — Peaches Unyanyembe — Dangerous illness — 
War between Arabs and natives — Narrow escape of Stanley — Approach to 
L'jiji — Meeting with Livingstone — Livingstone's story — Stanley's news — 
Livingstone's goods and men at Bagamoio — Stanley's account of Living- 
stone — Refutation of foolish and calumnious charges — They go to the 
north of the lake — Livingstone resolves not to go home, but to get fresh 
men and return to the sources — Letter to Agnes — to Sir Thomas Maclear 
— The travellers go to Unyanyembe — More plundering of stores — Stanley 
leaves for Zanzibar — Stanley's bitterness of heart at parting — Living- 
stone's intense gratitude to Stanley— He intrusts his Journal to him, and 
commissions him to send servants and stores from Zanzibar — Stanley's 
journey to the coast — Finds Search Expedition at Bagamoio — Proceeds to 
England— Stanley's reception — Unpleasant feelings — Eclaircissement — 
England grateful to Stanley, . . . . . . . . .417 

b 



xviii CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXII. 

FROM UNYANYEMBE TO BANGWEOLO. 
A.D. 1872-1873. 

, PAGE 

Livingstone's long wait at Unyanyembe — His plan of operations — His fifty- 
ninth birthday — Renewal of self-dedication — Letters to Agnes — to New 
York Herald — Hardness of the African battle — Waverings of judgment, 
whether Lualaba was the Nile or the Congo — Extracts from Journal — 
Gleams of humour — Natural history — His distress on hearing of the death 
of Sir Roderick Murchison — Thoughts on mission-work — Arrival of his 
escort — His happiness in his new men — He starts from Unyanyembe — 
Illness— Great amount of rain — Near Bangweolo — Incessant moisture — 
Flowers of the forest — Taking of observations regularly prosecuted — 
Dreadful state of the country from rain — Hunger — Furious attack of ants 
— Greatness of Livingstone's sufferings — Letters to Sir Thomas Maclear, 
Mr. Young, his brother, and Agnes — His sixtieth birthday — Great weak- 
ness in April — Sunday services and observations continued — Increasing ill- 
ness — The end approaching — Last written words — Last day of his travels 
— He reaches Chitambo's village, in Ilala — Is found on his knees dead, on 
morning of 1st May — Courage and affection of his attendants — His body em- 
balmed — Carried towards shore — Dangers and sufferings during the march 
— The party meet Lieutenant Cameron at Unyanyembe — Determine to go 
on — Ruse at Kasekera — Death of Dr. Dillon — The party reach Bagamoio, 
and the remains are placed on board a cruiser — The Search Expeditions 
from England — to East Coast under Cameron — to West Coast under 
Grandy — Explanation of Expeditions by Sir Henry Rawlinson — Living- 
stone's remains brought to England — Examined by Sir W. Fergusson and 
others — Buried in Westminster Abbey — Inscription on slab — Livingstone's 
wish for a forest grave — Lines from Punch — Tributes to his memory — Sir 
Bartle Frere — The Lancet — Lord Polwarth — Florence Nightingale, . . 433 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

POSTHUMOUS INFLUENCE. 

History of his life not completed at his death — Thrilling effect of the tragedy 
of Ilala — Livingstone's influence on the slave-trade — His letters from Mau- 
yuema — Sir Bartle Frere's mission to Zanzibar — Successful efforts of Dr. 
Kirk with Sultan of Zanzibar — The land rotite — The sea route — Slave- 
trade declared illegal— Egypt— The Soudan— Colonel Gordon — Conven- 
tions with Turkey — King Mtesa of Uganda — Nyassa district — Introduction 
of lawful commerce — Various commercial enterprises in progress — 
Influence of Livingstone on exploration — Enterprise of newspapers — 
Exploring undertakings of various nations — Liviugstone's personal service 
to science — His hard work in science the cause of respect — His influence 



CONTENTS. xix 

PAGE 

on missionary enterprise — Livingstonia — Dr. Stewart — Mr. E. D. Young 
— Blantyre — The Universities Mission under Bishop Steere— Its return to 
the mainland and to Xyassa district — Church Missionary Society at Nyanza 
— London Missionary Society at Tanganyika — French, Inland, Baptist, 
and American missions— Medical missions — The Fisk Livingstone hall 
— Livingstone's great legacy to Africa, a spotless Christian name and 
character — Honours of the future, ........ 461 



APPENDIX. 

I. Extracts from paper on " Missionary Sacrifices," .... 4,75 

II. Treatment of African Fever, .481 

III. Letter to Dr. Tidman, as to future operations, ..... 483 

IV. Lord Clareudon's Letter to Sekeletu, 487 

V. Puhlic Honours awarded to Dr. Livingstone, ..... 4S9 

Index, ............ 491 




foringstone's first "Expedition (Missionary Travels) thus., 
nd fy.ambcsi & its tributaries ) . 

last „ (Last Journals) 

I - 

lO" East at;" Greenwich. 



DAVID LIVINGSTONE. 



CHAPTER I. 

EARLY YEARS. 

A.D. 1813-1836. 

Ulva — The Livingstones — Traditions of Ulva life — The ' 'Baugh ting- time " 
— " Kirsty's Rock " — Removal of Livingstone's grandfather to Blantyre — 
Highland blood — Neil Livingstone — His marriage to Agnes Hunter — Her 
grandfather and father — Monument to Neil and Agnes Livingstone in 
Hamilton Cemetery — David Livingstone, born 19th March 1813 — Boyhood — 
At home— In school — David goes into Blantyre Mill — First earnings — Night- 
school — His habits of reading — Natural-history expeditions — Great spiritual 
change in his twentieth year — Dick's Philosojjhy of a Future State — He resolves 
to be a missionary — Influence of occupation at Blantyre — Sympathy with 
the people — Thomas Burke and David Hogg — Practical character of hi3 
religion. 

The family of David Livingstone sprang, as lie lias him- 
self recorded, from the island of Ulva, on the west 
coast of Mull, in Argyllshire. Ulva, "the island of 
wolves," is of the same group as Staffa, and, like it, 
remarkable for its basaltic columns, which, according to 
MacCulloch, are more deserving of admiration than those 
of the Giant's Causeway, and have missed being famous 
only from being eclipsed by the greater glory of Staffa. 
The island belonged for many generations to the Mac- 
quaries, a name distinguished in our home annals, as well 
as in those of Australia. The Celtic name of the Living- 
stones was M'Leay, which according to Dr. Livingstone's 

A 



2 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap, l 

own idea means " son of the grey-headed," but accord- 
to another derivation, "son of the physician." It has 
been surmised that the name may have been given to 
some son of the famous Beatoun, who held the post of 
physician to the Lord of the Isles. Probably Dr. Living- 
stone never heard of this derivation ; if he had, he would 
have shown it some favour, for he had a singularly high 
opinion of the physician's office. 

The Saxon name of the family was originally spelt 
Livingstone, but the Doctor's father had shortened it by 
the omission of the final " e." David wrote it for many 
years in the abbreviated form, but about 1857, at his 
father's request, he restored the original spelling. 1 The 
significance of the original form of the name was not with- 
out its influence on him. He used to refer with great 
pleasure to a note from an old friend and fellow-student, 
the late Professor George Wilson of Edinburgh, acknow- 
ledging a copy of his book in 1857 : — "Meanwhile, may 
your name be propitious ; in all your long and weary 
journeys may the Living half of your title outweigh 
the other ; till after long and blessed labours, the white 
stone is given you in the happy land." 

Livingstone has told us most that is known of his 
forefathers ; how his great-grandfather fell at Culloden, 
fighting for the old line of kings ; how his grandfather 
could go back for six generations of his family before 
him, giving the particulars of each ; and how the only 
tradition he himself felt proud of was that of the old 
man who had never heard of any person in the family 
being guilty of dishonesty, and who charged his chil- 
dren never to introduce the vice. He used also to 
tell his children, when spurring them to diligence at 
school, that neither had he ever heard of a Livingstone 
who was a donkey. He has also recorded a tradition 
that the people of the island were converted from being 

1 See Journal of Geographical Society, 1857, page clxviii. 



1813-3&] EARLY YEARS. 3 

Roman Catholics " by the laird coming round with a man 
having a yellow staff, which would seem to have attracted 
more attention than his teaching, for the new religion 
went long afterwards — perhaps it does so still — by the 
name of the religion of the yellow stick." The same 
story is told of perhaps a dozen other places in the High- 
lands ; the " yellow stick " seems to have done duty 
on a considerable scale. 

There were traditions of Ulva life that must have been 
very congenial to the temperament of David Livingstone. 
In the " Statistical Account" of the parish to which it 
belongs 1 we read of an old custom among the inhabitants, 
to remove with their flocks in the beginning of each summer 
to the upland pastures, and bivouac there till they were 
obliged to descend in the month of August. The open- 
air life, the free intercourse of families, the roaming frolics 
of the young men, the songs and merriment of young 
and old, seem to have made this a singularly happy 
time. The writer of the account (Mr. Clark of Ulva) 
says that he had frequently listened with delight to 
the tales of pastoral life led by the people on these 
occasions ; it was indeed a relic of Arcadia. There were 
tragic traditions, too, of Ulva ; notably that of Kirsty's 
Rock, an awful place where the islanders are said to have 
administered Lynch law to a woman who had unwittingly 
killed a girl she meant only to frighten, for the alleged 
crime — denied by the girl — of stealing a cheese. The 
poor woman was broken-hearted when she saw what she 
had done : but the neighbours, filled with horror, and 
deaf to her remonstrances, placed her in a sack, which 
they laid upon a rock covered by the sea at high water, 
where the rising tide slowly terminated her existence. 
Livingstone quotes Macaulay's remark on the extreme 
savagery of the Highlanders of those days, like the Cape 

1 Kilninian and Kilraore. See New Statistical Account of Scotland, Argyll- 
shire, p. 345. 



4 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. i. 

Caffres, as he says ; and the tradition of Kirsty's Rock 
would seem to confirm it. But the stories of the 
" baughting-time " presented a fairer aspect of Ulva life, 
and no doubt left happier impressions on his mind. 
His grandfather, as he tells us, had an almost unlimited 
stock of such stories, which he was wont to rehearse to 
his grandchildren and other rapt listeners. 

When, for the first and last time in his life, David 
Livingstone visited Ulva, in 1864, in a friend's yacht, he 
could hear little or nothing of his relatives. In 1792, 
his grandfather, as he tells us, left it for Blantyre, in 
Lanarkshire, about seven miles from Glasgow, on the 
banks of the Clyde, where he found employment in a 
cotton factory. The dying charge of the unnamed ancestor 
must have sunk into the heart of this descendant, for, 
being a God-fearing man and of sterling honesty, he was 
employed in the conveyance of large sums of money from 
Glasgow to the works, and in his old age was pensioned 
off, so as to spend his declining years in ease and comfort. 
There is a tradition in the family, showing his sense of 
the value of education, that he was complimented by the 
Blantyre schoolmaster for never grudging the price of a 
school-book for any of his children — a compliment, we 
fear, not often won at the present day. The other near 
relations of Livingstone seem to have left the island at 
the same time, and settled in Canada, Prince Edward's 
Isle, and the United States. 

The influence of his Highland blood was apparent in 
many ways in David Livingstone's character. It modified 
the democratic influences of his early years, when he 
lived among the cotton-spinners of Lanarkshire. It 
enabled him to enter more readily into the relation of 
the African tribes to^ their chiefs, which, unlike some 
other missionaries, he sought to conserve while purifying 
it by Christian influence. It showed itself in the dash 
and daring which were so remarkably combined in him 



1813-36.] EARLY YEARS. 5 

with Saxon forethought and perseverance. "We are not 
sure but it gave a tinge to his affections, intensifying his 
likes, and some of his dislikes too. His attachment to 
Sir Roderick Murchison was quite that of a Highlander, 
and hardly less so was his feeling towards the Duke of 
Argyll — a man whom he had no doubt many grounds for 
esteeming highly, but of whom, after visiting him at 
Inveraray, he spoke with all the enthusiasm of a High- 
lander for his chief. 

The Ulva emigrant had several sons, all of whom but 
one eventually entered the King's service during the 
French war, either as soldiers or sailors. The old man 
was somewhat disheartened by this circumstance, and 
especially by the fate of Charles, head-clerk in the office 
of Mr. Henry Monteith in Glasgow, who was pressed on 
board a man-of-war, and died soon after in the Mediter- 
ranean. Only one son remained at home, Neil, the father 
of David, who eventually became a tea-dealer, and spent 
his life at Blantyre and Hamilton. David Livingstone has 
told us that his father was of the high type of character 
portrayed in the Cottar s Saturday Night. There are 
friends still alive who remember him well, and on whom 
he made a deep impression. He was a great reader from 
his youth upwards, especially of religious works. His 
reading and his religion refined his character, and made 
him a most pleasant and instructive companion. His 
conversational powers were remarkable, and he could 
pour out in a most interesting way the stores of his read- 
ing and observation. 

Neil Livingstone was a man of great spiritual earnest- 
ness, and his whole life was consecrated to duty and the 
fear of God. In many ways he was remarkable, being in 
some things before his time. In his boyhood he had seen 
the evil effects of convivial habits in his immediate circle, 
and in order to fortify others by his example he became a 
strict teetotaler, suffering not a little ridicule and opposi- 



6 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. i. 

tion from the firmness with which he carried out his 
resolution. He was a Sunday-school teacher, an ardent 
member of a missionary society, and a promoter of meet- 
ings for prayer and fellowship, before such things had 
ceased to be regarded as badges of fanaticism. While 
travelling through the neighbouring parishes in his vocation 
of tea-merchant, he acted also as colporteur, distributing- 
tracts and encouraging the reading of useful books-. He 
took suitable opportunities when they came to him of 
speaking to young men and others on the most important 
of all subjects, and not without effect. He learned Gaelic 
that he might be able to read the Bible to his mother, 
who knew that language best. He had indeed the very 
soul of a missionary. Withal he was kindly and affable, 
though very particular in enforcing what he believed to 
be right. He was quick of temper, but of tender heart 
and gentle ways ; anything that had the look of stern- 
ness was the result not of harshness but of high principle. 
By this means he commanded the affection as well as the 
respect of his family. It was a great blow to his dis- 
tinguished son, to whom in his character and ways he bore 
a great resemblance, to get news of his death, on his 
way home after his first great journey, dissipating the 
cherished pleasure of sitting at the fireside and telling 
him all his adventures in Africa. 

The wife of Neil Livingstone was Agnes Hunter, a 
member of a family of the same humble rank and the 
same estimable character as his own. Her grandfather, 
Gavin Hunter, of the parish of Shotts, was a doughty 
Covenanter, who might have sat for the portrait of David 
Deans. His son David (after whom the traveller was 
named) was a man of the same type,' who got his first 
religious impressions in his eighteenth year, at an open- 
air service conducted by one of the Sf cession Erskines. 
Snow was falling at the time, and before the end of the 
sermon the people were standing in snow up to the 



1813-36.] EARLY YEARS. 7 

ankles ; but David Hunter used to say he had no feeling 
of cold that day. He married Janet Moffat, and lived at 
first in comfortable circumstances at Airdrie, where he 
owned a cottage and a croft. Mrs. Hunter died, when 
her daughter Agnes, afterwards Mrs. Neil Livingstone, 
was but fifteen. Agnes was her mother's only nurse 
during a long illness, and attended so carefully to her 
wants that the minister of the family laid his hand on 
her head and said, "A blessing will follow you, my 
lassie, for your duty to your mother." Soon after Mrs. 
Hunter's death a reverse of fortune overtook her husband, 
who had been too good-natured in accommodating his 
neighbours. He removed to Blantyre, where he worked 
as a tailor. Neil Livingstone was apprenticed to him by 
his father, much against his will ; but it was by this 
means that he became acquainted with Agnes Hunter, 
his future wife. David Hunter, whose devout and in- 
telligent character procured for him great respect, died 
at Blantyre in 1834, at the age of eighty-seven. He 
was a great favourite with his grandchildren, to whom he 
was always kind, and whom he allowed to rummage 
freely among his books, of which he had a considerable 
collection, chiefly theological. 

Neil Livingstone and Agnes Hunter were married 
in 1810, and took up house at first in Glasgow. The 
furnishing of their house indicated the frugal character 
and self-respect of the occupants ; it included a handsome 
chest of drawers, and other traditional marks of respect- 
ability. Not liking Glasgow, they returned to Blantyre. 
In a humble home there, five sons and two daughters 
were born. Two of the sons died in infancy, to the great 
sorrow of the parents. Mrs. Livingstone's family spoke 
and speak of her as a very loving mother, one who con- 
tributed to their home a remarkable element of bright- 
ness and serenity. Active, orderly, and of thorough 
cleanlin'ess, she trained her family in the same virtues, 



8 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. i. 

exemplifying their value in their own home. She was a 
delicate little woman, with a wonderful flow of good 
spirits, and remarkable for the beauty of her eyes, to 
which those of her son David bore a strong resemblance. 
She was most careful of household duties and attentive 
to her children. Her love had no crust to penetrate, 
but came beaming out freely like the light of the sun. 
Her son loved her, and in many ways followed her. 
It was the genial, gentle influences that had moved him 
under his mother's training that enabled him to move 
the savages of Africa. 

She too had a great/ store of family traditions, and, like 
the mother of Sir Walter Scott, she retained the power 
of telling them with the utmost accuracy to a very old 
age. In one of Livingstone's private journals, written 
in 1864, during his second visit home, he gives at full 
length one of his mother's stories, which some future 
Macaulay may find useful as an illustration of the social 
condition of Scotland in the early part of the eighteenth 
century : — 

"Mother told me stories of her youth : they seem to come back to her 
in her eighty-second year very vividly. Her grandfather, Gavin Hunter, 
could write, while most common people were ignorant of the art. A 
poor woman got him to write a petition to the minister of Shotts 
parish to augment her monthly allowance of sixpence, as she could not 
live on it. He was taken to Hamilton jail for this, and having a wife 
and three children at home, who without him would certainly starve, 
he thought of David's feigning madness before the Philistines, and be- 
slabbered his beard with saliva. All who were found guilty were 
sent to the army in America, or the plantations. A serjeant had 
compassion on him and said, * Tell me, gudeman, if you are really out 
of your mind. I '11 befriend you.' He confessed that he only feigned 
insanity, because he had a wife and three bairns at home who would 
starve if he were sent to the army. ' Dinna say ony thing mair to 
ony body,' said the kind-hearted serjeant. He then said to the com- 
manding officer, ' They have given us a man clean out of his mind : I 
can do nothing with the like o' him.' The officer went to him and 
gave him three shillings, saying, ' Tak' that, gudeman, and gang awa' 
name to your wife and weans.' ' Ay/ said mother, ' mony a prayer 
went up for that serjeant, for my grandfather was an unco godly man. 



1813-36.] EARLY YEARS. 9 

He had never had so much money in his life before, for his wages 
were only threepence a day.' " 

Mrs. Livingstone, to whom David had always been a 
most dutiful son, died on the 18th June 1865, after a 
lingering illness which had confined her to bed for several 
years. A telegram received by him at Oxford announced 
her death ; that telegram had been stowed away in one 
of his travelling cases, for a year after (19th June 1866), 
in his Last Journals, he wrote this entry : — " I lighted on 
a telegram to-day : — 

* Your mother died at noon on the 18th June.' 

This was in 1865 ; it affected me not a little." 1 

The home in which David Livingstone grew up was 
bright and happy, and presented a remarkable example 
of all the domestic virtues. It was ruled by an industry 
that never lost an hour of the six days, and that welcomed 
and honoured the day of rest ; a thrift that made the 
most of everything, though it never got far beyond the 
bare necessaries of life ; a self-restraint that admitted no 
stimulant within the door, and that faced bravely and 
steadily all the burdens of life ; a love of books that 
showed the presence of a cultivated taste, with a fear of 
God that dignified the life which it moulded and con- 
trolled. To the last David Livingstone was proud of the 
class from which he sprang. When the highest in the 
land were showering compliments on him, he was writing 
to his old friends of " my own order, the honest poor," 
and trying, by schemes of colonisation and otherwise, to 
promote their benefit. He never had the least hankering 
for any title or distinction that would have seemed to lift 
him out of his own class ; and it was with perfect sincerity 
that on the tombstone which he placed over the .resting- 
place of his parents in the cemetery of Hamilton, he 

1 Last Journals, vol. i. p. 55. 



io DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. i. 

expressed his feelings in these words, deliberately refusing 
to change the "and" of the last line into "but" : — 

TO SHOW THE RESTING-PLACE OF 

NEIL LIVINGSTONE, 

AND AGNES HUNTER, HIS WIFE, 

AND TO EXPRESS THE THANKFULNESS TO GOD 

OF THEIR CHILDREN, 

JOHN, DAVID, JANET, CHARLES, AND AGNES, 

FOR POOR AND PIOUS PARENTS. 

David Livingstone's birthday was the 19th March 
1813. Of his early boyhood there is little to say, except 
that he was a favourite at home. The children's games 
were merrier when he was among them, and the fireside 
brighter. He contributed constantly to the happiness of 
the family. Anything of interest that happened to him 
he was always ready to tell them. The habit was kept 
up in after years. When he went to study in Glasgow, 
returning on the Saturday evenings, he would take his 
place by the fireside and tell them all that had occurred 
during the week, thus sharing his life with them. His 
sisters still remember how they longed for these Saturday 
evenings. At the village school he received his early 
education. He seems from his earliest childhood to have 
been of a calm, self-reliant nature. It was his father's 
habit to lock the door at dusk, by which time all the 
children were expected to be in the house. One evening 
David had infringed this rule, and when he reached the 
door it was barred. He made no cry nor disturbance, 
but having procured a piece of bread, sat down contentedly 
to pass the night on the doorstep. There, on looking out, 
his mother found him. It was an early application of the 
rule which did him such service in later days, to make 
the best of the least pleasant situations. But no one could 
yet have thought how the rule was to be afterwards 



1813-36.] EARLY YEARS. 11 

applied. Looking back to this period, Livingstone might 
have said in the words of the old Scotch ballad : — 

* little knew my mother, 
The day she cradled me, 
The lands that I should wander o'er, 
The death that I should dee." 

At the age of nine he got a New Testament from 
his Sunday-school teacher for repeating the 119th Psalm 
on two successive evenings with only five errors, a proof 
that perseverance was bred in his very bone. 

His parents were poor, and at the age of ten he was 
put to work in the factory as a piecer, that his earnings 
might aid his mother in the struggle with the wolf which 
had followed the family from the island that bore its 
name. After serving a number of years as a piecer, he 
was promoted to be a spinner. Greatly to his mother's 
delight, the first half-crown he ever earned was laid by 
him in her lap. Livingstone has told us that with a part 
of his first week's wages he 'purchased Ruddiman's Rudi- 
ments of Latin, and pursued the study of that language 
with unabated ardour for many years afterwards at an 
evening class which had been opened between the 
hours of eight and ten. " The dictionary part of my 
labours was followed up till twelve o'clock, or later, if my 
mother did not interfere by jumping up and snatching 
the books out of my hands. I had to be back in the 
factory by six in the morning, and continue my work, 
with intervals for breakfast and dinner, till eight o'clock 
at night. I read in this way many of the classical 
authors, and knew Virgil and Horace better at sixteen 
than I do now." 1 

In his reading, he tells us that he devoured all the 
books that came into his hands but novels, and that his 
plan was to place the book on a portion of the spinning- 
jenny, so that he could catch sentence after sentence as 

1 Missionary Travels, p. 3. v- 



12 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. i. 

he passed at his work. The labour of attending to the 
wheels was great, for the improvements in spinning 
machinery that have made it self-acting had not then 
been introduced. The utmost interval that Livingstone 
could have for reading at one time was less than a minute. ' 

The thirst for reading so early shown w^as greatly 
stimulated by his father's example. Neil Livingstone, 
while fond of the old Scottish theology, was deeply 
interested in the enterprise of the nineteenth century, or, 
as he called it, " the progress of the world/' and endea- 
voured to interest his family in it too. Any books of 
travel, and especially of missionary enterprise, that he 
could lay his hands on, he eagerly read. Some publications 
of the Tract Society, called the Weekly Visitor, the Child's 
Companion and Teacher s Offering, were taken in, and 
were much enjoyed by his son David, especially the 
papers of " Old Humphrey." Novels were not admitted 
into the house, in accordance with the feeling prevalent 
in religious circles. Neil Livingstone had also a fear of 
books of science, deeming them unfriendly to Chris- 
tianity ; his son instinctively repudiated that feeling, 
though it was some time before the works of Thomas 
Dick of Broughty-Ferry enabled him to see clearly, what 
to him was of vital significance, that religion and science 
were not necessarily hostile, but rather friendly to each 
other. 

The many-sidedness of his character showed itself 
early ; for not content with reading, he used to scour 
the country, accompanied by his brothers, in search of 
botanical, geological, and zoological specimens. Culpepper's 
Herbal was a favourite book, and it set him to look in 
every direction for as many of the plants described in it 
as the country-side could supply. A story has been 
circulated that on these occasions he did not always 
confine his researches in zoology to fossil animals. That 
Livingstone was a poacher in the grosser sense of the 



1813-36.] EARLY YEARS. 13 

term seems hardly credible, though with the Radical 
opinions which he held at the time it may readily be 
believed that he had no respect for the sanctity of game. 
If a salmon came in his way while he was fishing for 
trout, he made no scruple of bagging it. The bag on 
such occasions was not always made for the purpose, 
for there is a story that once when he had captured 
a fish in the " salmon pool," and was not prepared to 
transport such a prize, he deposited it in the leg of his 
brother Charles's trousers, creating no little sympathy 
for the boy, as he passed through the village with his 
sadly swollen leg ! 

It was about his twentieth year that the great 
spiritual change took place which determined the course 
of Livingstone's future life. But before this time he had 
earnest thoughts on religion. " Great pains," he says in 
his first book, " had been taken by my parents to instil 
the doctrines of Christianity into my mind, and I had no 
difficulty in understanding the theory of a free salvation 
by the atonement of our Saviour ; but it was only about 
this time that I began to feel the necessity and value of 
a personal application of the provisions of that atonement 
to my own case." 1 Some light is thrown on this brief 
account in a paper submitted by him to the Directors of 
the London Missionary Society in 1838, in answer to a 
schedule of queries sent down by them when he offered 
himself as a missionary for their service. He says that 
about his twelfth year he began to reflect on his state as 
a sinner, and became anxious to realise the state of mind 
that flows from the reception of the truth into the heart. 
He was deterred, however, from embracing the free offer 
of mercy in the gospel, by a sense of unworthiness to 
receive so great a blessing, till a supernatural change 
should be effected in him by the Holy Spirit. Conceiving 
it to be his duty to wait for this, he continued expecting 

1 Jlii.ilonary Travels, p. 4. 



14 DA V1D LIVINGSTONE. [chap. i. 

a ground of hope within, rejecting meanwhile the only 
true hope of the sinner, the finished work of Christ, till 
at length his convictions were effaced, and his feelings 
blunted. Still his heart was not at rest ; an unappeased 
hunger remained, which no other pursuit could satisfy. 

In these circumstances he fell in with Dick's Philo- 
sophy of a Future State. The book corrected his error, 
and showed him the truth. "I saw the duty and in- 
estimable privilege immediately to accept salvation by 
Christ. Humbly believing that through sovereign mercy 
and grace I have been enabled so to do, and having felt 
in some measure its effects on my still depraved and 
deceitful heart, it is my desire to show my attachment 
to the cause of Him who died for me by devoting my 
life to His service." 

There can be no doubt that David Livingstone's heart 
was very thoroughly penetrated by the new life that now 
flowed into it. He did not merely apprehend the truth 
— the truth laid hold of him. The divine blessing flowed 
into him as it flowed into the heart of St. Paul, St. 
Augustine, and others of that type, subduing all earthly 
desires and wishes. What he says in his book about 
the freeness of God's grace drawing forth feelings of 
affectionate love to Him who bought him with His blood, 
and the sense of deep obligation to Him for his mercy, 
that had influenced, in some small measure, his conduct 
ever since, is from him most significant. Accustomed to 
suppress all spiritual emotion in his public writings, he 
would not have used these words if they had not been 
very real. They give us the secret of his life. Acts 
of self-denial that are very hard to do under the iron law 
of conscience become a willing service under the glow of 
divine love. It was the glow of divine love as well as the 
power of conscience that moved Livingstone. Though he 
seldom revealed his inner feelings, and hardly ever in the 
language of ecstasy, it is plain that he was moved by a 



1813-36.] EARLY YEARS. 15 

calm but mighty inward power to the very end of his 
life. The love that began to stir his heart in his fathers 
house continued to move him all through his dreary 
African journeys, and was still in full play on that lonely 
midnight when he knelt at his bedside in the hut in 
Ilala, and his spirit returned to his God and Saviour. 

At first, he had no thought of being himself a mis- 
sionary. Feeling "that the salvation of men ought to 
be the chief desire and aim of every Christian," he had 
made a resolution " that he would give to the cause of 
missions all that he might earn beyond what was required 
for his subsistence." 1 The resolution to give himself came 
from his reading an Appeal by Mr. Gutzlaff to the 
Churches of Britain and America on behalf of China. It 
was " the claims of so many millions of his fellow-creatures, 
and the complaints of the scarcity, of the want of qualified 
missionaries," that led him to aspire to the office. From 
that time — apparently his twenty-first year — his " efforts 
were constantly directed towards that object without any 
fluctuation." 

The years of monotonous toil spent in the factory 
were never regretted by Livingstone. On the contrary, 
he regarded his experience there as an important part 
of his education, and had it been possible, he would 
have liked " to begin life over again in the same lowly 
style, and to pass through the same hardy training." 2 
The fellow-feeling he acquired for the children of labour 
was invaluable for enabling him to gain influence with 
the same class, whether in Scotland or in Africa. As 
we have already seen, he was essentially a man of the 
people. Not that he looked unkindly on the richer 
classes — he used to say in his later years, that he liked 
to see people in comfort and at leisure, enjoying the good 
things of life, — but he felt that the burden-bearing multi- 

1 Statement to Directors of London Missionary Society. 

2 Mimowry Travels, p. 6. 



1 6 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. i. 

tude claimed his sympathy most. How quick the people 
are, whether in England or in Africa, to find 'out this 
sympathetic spirit, and how powerful is the hold of their 
hearts which those who have it gain ! In poetic feeling, 
or at least in the power of expressing it, as in many other 
things, David Livingstone and Bobert Burns were a 
great contrast ; but in sympathy with the people they 
were alike, and in both cases the people felt it. Away 
and alone, in the heart of Africa, when mourning "the 
pride and avarice that make man a wolf to man," Living- 
stone would welcome the " good tune coming," humming 
the words of Burns — 

" When man to man, the world o'er, 
Shall brothers be for a' that." 

In all the toils and trials of his life, he found the good of 
that early Blantyre discipline, which had forced him to 
bear irksome toil with patience, until the toil ceased to be 
irksome, and even became a pleasure. 

Livingstone has told us that the village of Blantyre, 
with its population of two thousand souls, contained some 
characters of sterling worth and ability, who exerted a 
most beneficial influence on the children and youth of the 
place by imparting gratuitous religious instruction. The 
names of two of the worthiest of these are given, probably 
because they stood highest in his esteem, and he owed 
most to them, Thomas Burke and David Hogg. Essen- 
tially alike, they seem to have been outwardly very 
different. Thomas Burke, a somewhat wild youth, had 
enlisted early in the army. His adventures and hair- 
breadth escapes in the Forty-second, during the Penin- 
sular and other wars, were marvellous, and used to be told 
in after years to crowds of wondering listeners. But most 
marvellous was the change of heart that brought him 
back an intense Christian evangelist, who, in season and 
out of season, never ceased to beseech the people of 
Blantyre to yield themselves to God. Early on Sunday 



iS 13-36.] EARLY YEARS. 17 

mornings he would go through the village ringing a bell 
to rouse the people that they might attend an early 
prayer-meeting which he had established. His tempera- 
ment was far too high for most even of the well-disposed 
people of Blantyre, but Neil Livingstone appreciated his 
genuine worth, and so did his son. David says of him 
that " for about forty years he had been incessant and 
never weary in good works, and that such men were an 
honour to their country and their profession." Yet it was 
not after the model of Thomas Burke that Livingstone's 
own religious life was fashioned. It had a greater resem- 
blance to that of David Hogg, the other of the two 
Blantyre patriarchs of whom he makes special mention, 
under whose instructions he had sat in the Sunday- 
school, and whose spirit may be gathered from his 
death-bed advice to him : " Now, lad, make religion 
the e very-day business of your life, and not a thing 
of fits and starts ; for if you do, temptation and other 
things will get the better of you." It would hardly 
be possible to give a better account of Livingstone's 
religion than that he did make it quietly, but very really, 
the every-day business of his life. From the first he 
disliked men of much profession and little performance ; 
the aversion grew as he advanced in years ; and by the 
end of his life, in judging of men, he had come to make 
somewhat light both of profession and of formal creed, 
retaining and cherishing more and more firmly the one 
great test of the Saviour — " By their fruits ye shall know 
them." 



1 3 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. 



CHAPTER II. 

MISSIONARY PREPARATION". 
A.D. 1836-1840. 

His desire to be a missionary to China — Medical missions — He studies at Glasgow 
— Classmates and teachers — He applies to London Missionary Society — His 
ideas of mission work — He is accepted provisionally — He goes to London — to 
Ongar — Reminiscences by Rev. Joseph Moore — by Mrs. Gilbert — by Rev. 
Isaac Taylor — Nearly rejected by the Directors — Returns to Ongar — to 
London — Letter to his sister — Reminiscences by Dr. Risdon Bennett — Pro- 
mise to Professor Owen — Impression of his character on his friends and fellow- 
students — Rev. R. Moffat in England —Livingstone interested — Could not be 
sen.t to China — Is appointed to Africa — Providential links in his history — 
Illness — Last visits to his home — Receives Medical diploma — Parts from his 
family. 

It was the appeal of Gutzlaff for China, as we have 
seen, that inspired Livingstone with the desire to be a 
missionary ; and China was the country to which his 
heart turned. The noble faith and dauntless enterprise 
of Gutzlaff, pressing into China over obstacles apparently 
insurmountable, aided by his medical skill and other 
unusual qualifications, must have served to shape Living- 
stone's ideal of a missionary, as well as to attract him to 
the country where Gutzlaff laboured. It was so ordered, 
however, that in consequence of the opium war shutting 
China, as it seemed, to- the English, his lot was not cast 
there ; but throughout his whole life he had a peculiarly 
lively interest in the country that had been the object of 
his first love. Afterwards, when his brother Charles, 
then in America, wrote to him that he too felt called to 
the missionary office, China was the sphere which David 
pointed out to him, in the hope that the door which had 



1836-40.] MISSIONAR V PREPARATION. 1 9 

been closed to the one brother might be opened to the 
other. 

When he determined to be a missionary, the only 
persons to whom he communicated his purpose were his 
minister and his parents, from all of whom he received great 
encouragement. 1 He hoped that he would be able to go 
through the necessary preparation without help from any 
quarter. This was the more commendable, because in 
addition to the theological qualifications of a missionary, 
he determined to acquire those of a medical practitioner. 
The idea of Medical Missions was at that time com- 
paratively new. It had been started in connection with 
missions to China, and it was in the prospect of going 
to that country that Livingstone resolved to obtain a 
medical education. It would have been comparatively 
easy for him, in a financial sense, to get the theological 
training, but the medical education was a costly affair. 
To a man of ordinary ideas, it would have seemed im- 
possible to make the wages earned during the six months 
of summer avail not merely for his support then, but for 
winter too, and for lodgings, fees, and books besides. 
Scotch students have often done wonders in this way, 
notably the late Dr. John Henderson, a medical mis- 
sionary to China, who actually lived on half-a-crown a 
week, while attending medical classes in Edinburgh. 
Livingstone followed the same self-denying course. If we 
had a note of his housekeeping in his Glasgow lodging, 
we should wonder less at his ability to live on the fare 

1 Livingstone's minister at this time was the Rev. John Moir, of the Congrega- 
tional church, Hamilton, who afterwards joined the Free Church of Scotland, and 
is now Presbyterian minister in Wellington, New Zealand. Mr. Moir has furnished 
us with some recollections of Livingstone, which reached us after the completion 
of this narrative. He particularly notes that when Livingstone expressed his 
desire to be a missionary, it was a missionary out and out, a missionary to the 
heathen, not the minister of a congregation. Mr. Moir kindly lent him some books 
when lie went to London, all of which were conscientiously returned before he left 
the country. A Greek Lexicon, with only cloth boards when lent, was returned in 
substantial calf. He was ever careful, conscientious, and honourable in all his 
dealings, as his father had been before him. 



2o DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. ii. 

to which he was often reduced in Africa. But the im- 
portance of the medical qualification had taken a firm 
hold of his mind, and he persevered in spite of difficulties. 
Though it was never his lot to exercise the healing art 
in China, his medical training" was of the highest use in 
Africa, and it developed wonderfully his strong scientific 
turn. 

It was in the winter of 1836-37 that he spent his first 
session in Glasgow. Furnished by a friend with a fist of 
lodgings, Livingstone and his father set out from Blantyre 
one wintry day, while the snow was on the ground, and 
walked to Glasgow. The lodgings were all too expensive. 
All day they searched for a cheaper apartment, and at 
last in Rotten Row they found a room at two shillings 
a week. Next evening David wrote to his friends that 
he had entered in the various classes, and spent twelve 
pounds in fees ; that he felt very lonely after his father 
left, but would put " a stout heart to a stey brae," and 
" either mak ? a spune or spoil a horn." At Rotten Row 
he soon found that his landlady held rather communistic 
views in regard to his tea and sugar ; so another search 
had to be made, and this . time he found a room in the 
High Street, where he was very comfortable, at half-a- 
crown a week. 

At the close of the session in April he returned to 
Blantyre and resumed work at the mill. He was unable 
to save quite enough for his second session, and found it 
necessary to borrow a little from his elder brother. 1 The 
classes he attended during these two sessions were the 
Greek class in Anderson's College, the theological class of 
the Rev. Dr. Wardlaw, who trained students for the Inde- 
pendent Churches, and the medical classes in Anderson's. 

1 The readiness of elder brothers to advance part of their hard-won earnings, 
or otherwise encourage a younger brother to attend College, is a pleasant feature 
of family life in the humbler classes of Scotland. The case of James Beattie the 
poet, assisted by his brother David, and that of Sir James Simpson, who owed so 
much to his brother Alexander, will be remembered in this connection. 



1836-40.] MISSIONARY PREPARATION. 21 

In the Greek class he seems to have been entered as 
a private student, exciting little notice. 1 In the same 
capacity he attended the lectures of Dr. Wardlaw. 
He had a great admiration for that divine, and accepted 
generally his theological views. But Livingstone was not 
much of a scientific theologian. 

His chief work in Glasgow was the prosecution of 
medical study. Of his teachers, two attracted him beyond 
the rest — the late Dr. Thomas Graham, the very dis- 
tinguished Professor of Chemistry, and Dr. Andrew 
Buchanan, Professor of the Institutes of Medicine, his 
life-lonof and much-attached friend. While attending 
Dr. Graham's class he was brought into frequent contact 
with the assistant to the Professor, Mr. James Young. 
Originally bred to a mechanical employment, this young 
man had attended the evening course of Dr. Graham, and 
having attracted his attention, and done various pieces 
of work for him, he became his assistant. The students 
used to gather round him, and several met in his room, 
where there was a bench, a turning-lathe, and other 
conveniences for mechanical work. Livingstone took an 
interest in the turning-lathe, and increased his know- 
ledge of tools — a knowledge which proved of the highest 
service to him when — as he used to say all missionaries 
should be ready to do — he had to become a Jack-of- 
all-trades in Africa. 

Livingstone was not the only man of mark who 
frequented that room, and got lessons from Mr. Young 
" how to use his hands/' The Bight Hon. Lyon Playfair, 
who has had so distinguished a scientific career, was 
another of its habitues. A galvanic battery constructed 

1 A very sensational and foolish reminiscence was once published of a raw 
country youth coining into the class with his clothes stained with grease and 
whitened by cotton-wool. This was Livingstone. The fact is, nothing could 
possibly have been more unlike him. At this time Livingstone was not working 
at the mill ; and, in regard to dress, however plainly he might Ijc clad, he was 
never careless, far less offensive. 



22 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. ii. 

by two young men on a new principle, under Mr. Young's 
instructions, became an object of great attraction, and 
among those who came to see it and its effects were 
two sons of the Professor of Mathematics in the Uni- 
versity. Although but boys, both were fired at this 
interview with enthusiasm for electric science. Both 
have been for many years Professors in the University of 
Glasgow. The elder, Professor James Thomson, is well 
known for his useful inventions and ingenious papers 
on many branches of science. The younger, Sir William 
Thomson, ranks over the world as prince of electricians, 
and second to no living man in scientific reputation. 

Dr. Graham's assistant devoted himself to practical 
chemistry, and made for himself a brilliant name by the 
purification of "petroleum, adapting it for use in private 
houses, and by the manufacture of paraffin and paraffin- 
oil. Few men have made the art to which they devoted 
themselves more subservient to the use of man than he 
whom Livingstone first knew as Graham's assistant, and 
afterwards used to call playfully " Sir Paraffin." " I 
have been obliged to knight him," he used to say, " to 
distinguish him from the other Young." The "other" 
Young was Mr. E. D. Young of the Search Expedition, 
and subsequently the very successful leader of the Scotch 
Mission at Lake Nyassa. The assistant to Dr. Graham 
still survives, and is well known as Mr. Young of Kelly, 
LL.D. and F.P.S. 

When Livingstone returned from his first journey, 
his acquaintance with Mr. Young was resumed, and their 
friendship continued through life. It is no slight testi- 
mony from one who knew him so long and so intimately, 
that, in his judgment, Livingstone was the best man 
he ever knew, had more than any other man of true 
filial trust in God, more of the spirit of Christ, more of 
integrity, purity, and simplicity of character, and of self- 
denying love for his fellow-men. Livingstone named 



1836-40.] MISSIONARY PREPARATION. 23 

after him a river which he supposed might be one of the 
sources of the Nile, and used ever to speak with great 
respect of the chief achievement of Mr. Young's life — 
rilling houses with a clear white light at a fraction of the 
cost of the smoky article which it displaced. 

Beyond their own department, men of science are 
often as lax and illogical as any ; but when scientific 
training is duly applied, it genders a habit of thorough 
accuracy, inasmuch as in scientific inquiry the slightest 
deviation from truth breeds endless mischief. Other 
influences had already disposed Livingstone to great 
exactness of statement, but along with these his scientific 
training may be held to have contributed to that dread of 
exaggeration and of all inaccuracy which was so marked 
a feature of his character through life. 

It happened that Livingstone did not part company 
with Professor Graham and Mr. Young when he left 
Glasgow. The same year, Dr. Graham went to London 
as Professor in L T niversity College, and Livingstone, who 
also went to London, had the opportunity of paying occa- 
sional visits to his class. In this way, too, he became 
acquainted with the late Dr. George Wilson, afterwards 
Professor of Technology in the University of Edinburgh, 
who was then acting as unsalaried assistant in Dr. 
Graham's laboratory. Frank, genial, and chivalrous, 
Wilson and Livingstone had much in common, and more 
in after years, when Wilson too became an earnest Chris- 
tian. In the simplicity and purity of their character, 
and in their devotion to science, not only for its own 
sake, but as a department of the kingdom of God, they 
were brothers indeed. Livingstone showed his friendship 
in after years by collecting and transmitting to Wilson 
whatever he could find in Africa worthy of a place in 
the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art, of which 
his friend was the first Director. 

In the course of his second session in Glasgow 



24 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. n. 

(1837-38) Livingstone applied to the London Missionary 
Society, offering his services to them as a missionary. 
He had learned that that Society had for its sole object 
to send the gospel to the heathen ; that it accepted 
missionaries from different Churches, and that it did not 
set up any particular form of Church, but left it to the 
converts to choose the form they considered most in 
accordance with the Word of God. This agreed with 
Livingstone's own notion of what a Missionary Society 
should do. He had already connected himself with 
the Independent communion, but his preference for it was 
founded chiefly on his greater regard for the personnel of 
the body, and for the spirit in which it was administered, 
as compared with the Presbyterian Churches of Scotland. 
He had very strong views of the spirituality of the Church 
of Christ, and the need of a profound spiritual change as 
the only true basis of Christian life and character. He 
thought that the Presbyterian Churches were too lax in 
their communion, and particularly the Established Church. 
He was at this time a decided Voluntary, chiefly on the 
ground maintained by such men as Yinet, that the con- 
nection of Church and State was hurtful to the spirituality 
of the Church ; and he had a particular abhorrence of 
what he called " geographical Christianity," — which gave 
every man within a certain area a right to the sacraments. 
We shall see that in his later years Dr. Livingstone saw 
reason to modify some of these opinions ; surveying the 
Evangelical Churches from the heart of Africa, he came to 
think that, established or non-established, they did not 
differ so very much from each other, and that there was 
much good and considerable evil in them all. 

In his application to the London Missionary Society, 
Livingstone stated his ideas of missionary work in com- 
prehensive terms : — " The missionary's object is to en- 
deavour by every means in his power to make known the 
gospel by preaching, exhortation, conversation, instruction 



1 836-40.] MISSIONAR Y PREPARA HON. 25 

of the young ; improving, so far as in his power, the 
temporal condition of those among whom he labours, by 
introducing the arts and sciences of civilisation, and doing 
everything to commend Christianity to their hearts and 
consciences. He will be exposed to great trials of his 
faith and patience from the indifference, distrust, and 
even direct opposition and scorn of those for whose good 
he is labouring ; he may be tempted to despondency from 
the little apparent fruit of his exertions, and exposed to 
all the contaminating influence of heathenism." He was 
not about to undertake this work without counting the 
cost. " The hardships and dangers of missionary life, so 
far as I have had the means of ascertaining their nature 
and extent, have been the subject of serious reflection, and 
in dependence on the promised assistance of the Holy 
Spirit, I have no hesitation in saying that I would will- 
ingly submit to them, considering my constitution capable 
of enduring any ordinary share of hardship or fatigue." 
On one point he was able to give the Directors very 
explicit information : he was not married, nor under any 
engagement of marriage, nor had he ever made pro- 
posals of marriage, nor indeed been in love ! He would 
prefer to go out unmarried, that he might, like the great 
apostle, be without family cares, and give himself entirely 
to the work. 

His application to the London Missionary Society was 
provisionally accepted, and in September 1838 he was 
summoned to London to meet the Directors. A young 
Englishman came to London on the same errand at the 
same time, and a friendship naturally arose between the 
two. Livingstone's young friend was the Rev. Joseph 
Moore, afterwards missionary at Tahiti ; now of Congleton 
in Cheshire. Nine years later, Livingstone, writing to Mr. 
Moore from Africa, said : "Of all those I have met since 
we parted, I have seen no one I can compare to you for 
sincere, hearty friendship." Livingstone's family used to 



26 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. ii. 

speak of them as Jonathan and David. Mr. Moore has 
kindly furnished us with his recollections of Livingstone 
at this time : — 

"I met with Livingstone first in September 1838, at 57 Alders- 
gate Street, London. On the same day we had received a letter from 
the Secretary informing us severally that our applications had been 
received, and that we must appear in London to be examined by the 
Mission Board there. On the same day, he from Scotland, and I 
from the south of England, arrived in town. On that night, we 
simply accosted each other, as those who meet at a lodging-house 
might do. After breakfast on the following day, we fell into con- 
versation, and finding that the same object had brought us to the 
metropolis, and that the same trial awaited us, naturally enough we 
were drawn to each other. Every day, as we had not been in town 
before, we visited places of renown in the great city, and had many a 
chat about our prospects. ■ 

" On Sunday in the morning, we heard Dr. Leifchild, who was 
then in his prime, and in the evening Mr. Sherman, who preached 
with all his accustomed persuasiveness and mellifluousness. ■ In the 
afternoon we worshipped at St. Paul's, and heard Prebendary Dale. 

"On Monday we passed our first examination. On Tuesday we 
went to Westminster Abbey. Who that had seen those two young 
men passing from monument to monument could have divined that 
one of them would one day be buried with a nation's — rather with 
the civilised world's — lament, in that sacred shrine] The wildest 
fancy could not have pictured that such an honour awaited David 
Livingstone. I grew daily more attached to him. If I were asked 
why, I should be rather at a loss to reply. There was truly an in- 
describable charm about him, which, with all his rather ungainly ways, 
and by no means winning face, attracted almost every one, and which, 
helped him so much in his after-wanderings in Africa. 

"He Avon those who came near him by a kind of spell. There 
happened to be in the boarding-house at that time a young M.D., a 
saddler from Hants, and a bookseller from Scotland. To this hour 
they all speak of him in rapturous terms. 

" After passing two examinations, we were both so far accepted by 
the Society that we were sent to the Rev. Richard Cecil, who resided at 
Chipping Ongar in Essex. Most missionary students were sent to 
him for three months' probation, and if a favourable opinion was sent 
to the Board of Directors, they went to one of the Independent Col- 
leges. The students did not for the most part live with Mr. Cecil, but 
took lodgings in the town) and went to his house for meals and 
instruction in classics and theology. Livingstone and I lodged 
together. We read Latin and Greek, and began Hebrew together. 
Every day we took Avalks, and visited all the spots of interest in the 



1S36-40.] MISSIOXAR Y PREPARA TWN. 27 

neighbourhood, among them the country churchyard which was the 
burial-place of John Locke. In a place so quiet, aud a life so ordinary 
as that of a student, there did not occur many events worthy of 
recital. I will, however, mention one or two things, because they 
give an insight — a kind of prophetic glance — into Livingstone's after 
career. 

" One foggy November morning, at three o'clock, he set out from 
Ongar to walk to London to see a relative of his father's. 1 It was 
about twenty-seven miles to the house he sought. After spending a 
few hours with his relation, he set out to return on foot to Ongar. 
Just out of London, near Edmonton, a lady had been thrown out of a 
gig. She lay stunned on the road. Livingstone immediately went to 
her, helped to carry her into a house close by, and having examined 
her and found no bones broken, and recommending a doctor to be 
called, he resumed his weary tramp. AVeary and footsore, when 
he reached Stanford Rivers he missed his way, and finding after some 
time that he was wrong, he felt so dead-beat that he was inclined 
to lie down and sleep ; but finding a directing post he climbed it, and 
by the light of the stars deciphered enough to know his whereabouts. 
About twelve that Saturday night he reached Ongar, white as a sheet, 
and so tired he could hardly utter a word. I gave him a basin 
of bread and milk, and I am not exaggerating when I say I put him 
to bed. He fell at once asleep, and did not awake till noon-day had 
passed on Sunday. 

" Total abstinence at that time began to be spoken of, and Living- 
stone and I, and a Mr. Taylor, who went to India, took a pledge 
together to abstain. 2 Of that trio, two, I am sorry to say (lieu me 
miserum /), enfeebled health, after many years, compelled to take a 
little wine for our stomachs' sake. Livingstone was one of the two. 

" One part of our duties was to prepare sermons, which were 
submitted to Mr. Cecil, and, when corrected, were committed to 
memory, and then repeated to our village congregations. Livingstone 
prepared one, and one Sunday the minister of Stanford Rivers, where 
the celebrated Isaac Taylor resided, having fallen sick after the 
morning service, Livingstone was sent for to preach in the evening. 
He took his text, read it out very deliberately, and then — then — his 
sermon had fled ! Midnight darkness came upon him, and he abruptly 
said : ' Friends, I have forgotten all I had to say,' and hurrying out of 
the pulpit, he left the chapel. 

1 We learn from the family that the precise object of the visit was to transact 
some business for his eldest brother, who had begun to deal in lace. In the 
darkness of the morning Livingstone fell into a ditch, smearing his clothes, and 
not improving his appearance for smart business purposes. The day was spent in 
going about in London from shop to shop, greatly increasing Livingstone's fatigue. 

2 Livingstone had always practised total abstinence, according to the invariable 
custom of his father's house. The third of the trio was the Rev. Joseph v. S. 
Taylor, now of the Irish Presbyterian Mission, Gujerat, Bombay. 



28 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. ii. 

u He never became a preacher " [we shall see that this does not 
apply to his preaching in the, Sichuana language], "and in the first 
letter I received from him from Elizabeth Town in Africa he says, ' I 
am a very poor preacher, having a bad delivery, and some of them 
said if they knew I was to preach again they would not enter the 
chapel. Whether this was all on account of my manner I don't know ; 
but the truth which I uttered seemed to plague very much the person 
who supplies the missionaries with wagons and oxen. (They were 
bad ones.) My subject was the necessity of adopting the benevolent 
spirit of the Son of God, and abandoning the selfishness of the world.' 
Each student at Ongar had also to conduct family worship in rotation. 
I was much impressed by the fact that Livingstone never prayed 
without the petition that we might imitate Christ in all his imitable 
perfections." 1 

In the Autobiography of Mrs. Gilbert, an eminent 
member of the family of the Taylors of Ongar, there 
occur some reminiscences of Livingstone, corresponding 
to those here given by Mr. Moore. 2 

The Rev. Isaac Taylor, LL.D., now rector of Settring- 
ham, York, son of the celebrated author of The Natural 
History of Enthusiasm, and himself author of Words and 
Places, Etruscan Researches, etc., has kindly furnished us 
with the following recollection : " I well remember as a boy 
taking country rambles with Livingstone when he was 
studying at Ongar. Mr. Cecil had several missionary 
students, but Livingstone was the only one whose per- 
sonality made any impression on my boyish imagination. 
I might sum up my impression of him in two words — 
Simplicity and Resolution. Now, after nearly forty years, 
I remember his step, the characteristic forward tread, 
firm, simple, resolute, neither fast nor slow, no hurry and 
no dawdle, but which evidently meant — getting there." 3 

1 In connection with this prayer, it is interesting to note the impression made by- 
Livingstone nearly twenty years afterwards on one who saw him but twice— once 
at a public breakfast in Edinburgh, and again at the British Association in Dublin 
in 1857. We refer to Mrs. Sime, sister of Livingstone's early friend, Professor 
George Wilson of Edinburgh. Mrs. Sime writes : " I never knew any one who 
gave me more the idea of power over other men, such power as our Saviour 
showed while on earth, the power of love and purity combined." 

2 Page 386, third edition. 

3 On one occasion, in conversation with his former pastor, the Rev. John Moir, 



1836-40.] MISSIONARY PREPARATION. 29 

We resume Mr. Moore's reminiscences : — 

" When three mouths had elapsed, Mr. Cecil sent in his report to 
the Board. Judging from Livingstone's hesitating manner in con- 
ducting family worship, and while praying on the week-days in the 
chapel, and also from his failure so complete in preaching, an unfavour- 
able report was given in. . . . Happily, when it was read, and a 
decision was about to be given against him, some one pleaded hard 
that his probation should be extended, and so he had several months' 
additional trial granted. I sailed in the same boat, and was also sent 
back to Ongar as a naughty boy. ... At last Ave had so improved 
that both were fully accepted. Livingstone went to London to pursue 
his medical studies, and I went to Cheshunt College. A day or two 
after reaching College, I sent to Livingstone, asking him to purchase a 
second-hand carpet for my room. He was quite scandalised at such 
an exhibition of effeminacy, and positively refused to gratify my wish. 
... In the spring of 1840 I met Livingstone at London in Exeter 
Hall, when Prince Albert delivered his maiden speech in England. I 
remember how nearly he was brought to silence when the speech, 
which lie had lodged on the brim of his hat, fell into it, as deafening 
cheers made it vibrate. A day or two after, we heard Binney deliver 
his masterly missionary sermon, ' Christ seeing of the travail of his 
soul and being satisfied.' " 

The meeting at Exeter Hall was held to inaugurate 
the Niger Expedition. It was on this occasion that 
Samuel Wilberforce became known as a great platform 
orator. 1 It must have been pleasant to Livingstone in 
after years to recall the circumstance when he became a 
friend and correspondent of the Bishop of Oxford. 

Notwithstanding the dear postage of the time, Living- 
stone wrote regularly to his friends, but few of his letters 

Livingstone spoke of Mr. Isaac Taylor, who had shown him much kindness, and 
often invited him to dine in his house. He said that though Mr. Taylor was con- 
nected with the Independents, he was attached to the principles of the Church of 
England. Mr. Taylor used to lay very great stress on acquaintance with the 
writings of the Fathers as necessary for meeting the claims of the Tractarians, and 
did not think that that study was sufficiently encouraged by the Nonconformists. 
Any one who has been in Mr. Taylor's study at Stanford Rivers, and who 
remembers the top-heavy row of Patristic folios that crowned his collection of 
books, and the glance of pride he cast on them as he asked his visitor whether 
many men in his Church were well read in the Fathers, will be at no loss to 
verify this reminiscence. Certainly Livingstone had no such cpialilieution, and 
undoubtedly he never missed it. 
1 Life, of Bishop Wilberforce, vol. i. p. ICO. 



30 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. ii. 

have survived. One of the few, dated 5th May 1839, is 
addressed to his sister, and in it he says that there had 
been some intention of sending him abroad at once, 
but that he was very desirous of getting more edu- 
cation. The letter contains very little news, but is 
full of the most devout aspirations for himself and exhor- 
tations to his sister. Alluding to the remark of a friend 
that they should seek to be " uncommon Christians, that 
is, eminently holy and devoted servants of the Most 
High," he urges : — 

"Let us seek — and with the conviction that we cannot do without 
it — that all selfishness be extirpated, pride banished, unbelief driven 
from the mind, every idol dethroned, and everything hostile to holiness 
and opposed to the divine will crucified ; that ' holiness to the Lord ' 
may be engraven on the heart, and evermore characterise our whole 
conduct. This is what we ought to strive after ; this is the way to be 
happy ; this is what our Saviour loves — entire surrender of the heart. 
May He enable us by His Spirit to persevere till we attain it! All 
comes from Him, the disposition to ask as well as the blessing itself. 

" I hope you improve the talents committed to you whenever there 
is an opportunity. Yon have a class with whom you have some 
influence. It requires prudence in the way of managing it ; seek 
wisdom from above to direct you ; persevere — don't be content with 
once or twice recommending the Saviour to them — again and again, 
in as kind a manner as possible, familiarly, individually, and privately, 
exhibit to them, the fountain of happiness and joy, never forgetting to 
implore divine energy to accompany your endeavours, and you need 
not fear that your labour will be unfruitful. If you have the willing 
mind, that is accepted ; nothing else is accepted if that be wanting. 
God desires that. He can do all the rest. After all, He is the sole 
agent, for ' the willing mind ' comes alone from Him. This is comfort- 
ing, for when we think of the feebleness and littleness of all we do. 
we might despair of having our services accepted, were we not assured 
that it is not these God looks to, except in so far as they are indica- 
tions of the state of the heart." 

Dr. Livingstone's sisters have a distinct recollection 
that the field to which the Directors intended to send 
him was the West Indies, and that he remonstrated on 
the ground that he had spent two years in medical study, 
but in the West Indies, where there were regular practi- 
tioners, his medical knowledge would be of little or no 



i S36-40.] MISSIOiVAR Y PREPARA T10N. 3 r 

avail. He pleaded with the Directors, therefore, that he 
might be allowed to complete his medical studies, and it 
was then that Africa was provisionally fixed on as his 
destination. It appears, however, that he had not quite 
abandoned the thought of China. Mr. Moir, his former 
pastor, writes that being in London in May 1839, he 
called at the Mission House to make inquiries about him. 
He asked whether the Directors did not intend to send 
him to the East Indies, where the field was so large and 
the demand so urgent, but he was told that though they 
esteemed him highly, they did not think that his gifts 
fitted him for India, and that Africa would be a more 
suitable field. 

On returning to London, Livingstone devoted himself 
witli special ardour to medical and scientific study. The 
church with which he was connected was that of the late 
Piev. Dr. Bennett, in Falcon Square. This led to his 
becoming intimate with Dr. Bennett's son, now the well- 
known J. Risdon Bennett, M.D., LL.D., F.R.S., and 
President of the Royal College of Physicians, London. 
The friendship continued during the whole of Dr. Living- 
stone's life. From some recollections with which Dr. 
Bennett has kindly furnished us, we take the folio w- 



" My acquaintance with David Livingstone was through the 
London Missionary Society, when, having offered himself to that 
Society, he came to London to carry on those medical and other 
studies which he had commenced in Glasgow. From the first, I 
became deeply interested in his character, and ever after maintained 
a close friendship with him. I entertained towards him a sincere 
affection, and had the highest admiration of his endowments, both of 
mind and heart, and of his pure and noble devotion of all his powers 
to the highest purposes of life. One could not fail to be impressed 
with his simple, loving, Christian spirit, and the combined modest, 
unassuming, and self-reliant character of the man. 

" He placed himself under my guidance in reference to his medical 
studies, and I was struck with the amount of knowledge that he had 
already acquired of those subjects which constitute the foundation of 
medical science, lb; had, however, little or no acquaintance with the 



52 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. ii. 

practical departments of medicine, and had had no opportunities of 
studying the nature and aspects of disease. Of these deficiencies he 
was quite aware, and felt the importance of acquiring as much practical 
knowledge as possible during his stay in London. I was at that time 
Physician to the Aldersgate Street Dispensary, and was lecturing at 
the Charing Cross Hospital on the practice of medicine, and thus was 
able to obtain for him free admission to hospital practice as well as 
attendance on my lectures and mj^ practice at the dispensary. I think 
that I also obtained for him admission to the ophthalmic hospital in 
Moorfields. With these sources of information open to him, he 
obtained a considerable acquaintance with the more ordinary forms of 
disease, both surgical and medical, and an amount of scientific and 
practical knowledge that could not fail to be of the greatest advantage 
to him in the distant regions to which he was going, away from all the 
resources of civilisation. His letters to me, and indeed all the records 
of his eventful life, demonstrate how great to him was the value of the 
medical knowledge with which he entered on missionary life. There 
is abundant evidence that on various occasions his own life was preserved 
through his courageous and sagacious application of his scientific 
knowledge to his own needs ; and the benefits which he conferred on 
the natives to whose welfare he devoted himself, and the wonderful 
influence which he exercised over them, were in no small degree due 
to the humane and skilled assistance which he was able to render as 
a healer of bodily disease. The account which he gave me of his 
perilous encounter with the lion, and the means he adopted for the 
repair of the serious injuries which he received, excited the astonish- 
ment and admiration of all the medical friends to whom I related it, 
as evincing an amount of courage, sagacity, skill, and endurance that 
have scarcely been surpassed in the annals of heroism." 

Another distinguished man of science with whom 
Livingstone became acquainted in London, and on whom 
he made an impression similar to that made on Dr. 
Bennett, was Professor Owen. Part of the little time at 
his disposal was devoted to studying the series of com- 
parative anatomy in the Hunterian Museum, under 
Professor Owen's charge. Mr. Owen was interested to 
find that the Lanarkshire student was born in the same 
neighbourhood as Hunter, 1 but still more interested in 
the youth himself and his great love of natural history. 

1 Not in the same parish, as stated afterwards by Professor Owen. Hunter 
was born in East Kilbride, and Livingstone in Blantyre. The error is repeated in 
notices of Livingstone in some other quarters. 



i S36-40.] MISSIONAR Y PREPARA TWN. 33 

On taking leave, Livingstone promised to bear his 
instructor in mind if any curiosity fell in his way. 
Years passed, and as no communication reached him, 
Mr. Owen was disposed to class the promise with too 
many others made in the like circumstances. But on his 
first return to this country Livingstone presented himself, 
bearing the tusk of an elephant with a spiral curve. He 
had found it in the heart of Africa, and it was not easy 
of transport. "You may recall," said Professor Owen, at 
the Farewell Festival in 1858, "the difficulties of the 
progress of the weary sick traveller on the bullock's 
back. Every pound weight was of moment ; but Living- 
stone said, ' Owen shall have this tusk/ and he placed it 
in my hands in London." Professor Owen recorded this 
as a proof of Livingstone's inflexible adherence to his 
word. With equal justice we may quote it as a proof 
of his undying gratitude to any one that had shown 
him kindness. 

On all his fellow-students and acquaintances the 
simplicity, frankness, and kindliness of Livingstone's 
character made a deep impression. Mr. J. S. Cook, now 
of London, who spent three months with him at Ongar, 
writes : " He was so kind and gentle in word and deed to 
all about him that all loved him. • He had always words 
of sympathy at command, and was ready to perform acts 
of sympathy for those who were suffering." The Rev. 
G. D. Watt, a brother Scotchman, who went as a 
missionary to India, has a vivid remembrance of Living- 
stone's mode of discussion ; he showed great simplicity 
of view, along with a certain roughness or bluntness of 
manner ; great kindliness, and yet great persistence in 
holding to his own ideas. But none of his friends seem 
to have had any foresight of the eminence he was destined 
to attain. The Directors of the Society did not even 
rank him among their ablest men. It is interesting to 
contrast the opinion entertained of him then with that 

C 



34 



DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. ii. 



expressed by Sir Bartle Frere, after much personal 
intercourse, many years afterwards. " Of his intellectual 
force and energy," wrote Sir Bartle, " he has given such 
proof as few men could afford. Any five years of his life 
might in any other occupation have established a character 
and raised for him a fortune such as none but the most 
energetic of our race can realise." 1 

But his early friends were not so much at fault. 
Livingstone was somewhat slow of maturing. If we may 
say so, his intellect hung fire up to this very time, and it 
was only during his last year in England that he came to 
his intellectual manhood, and showed his real power. 
His very handwriting shows the change ; from being 
cramped and feeble it suddenly becomes clear, firm, and 
upright, very neat, but quite the hand of a vigorous 
independent man. 

Livingstone's prospects of getting to China had been 
damaged by the Opium War ; while it continued, no new 
appointments could be made, even had the Directors 
wished to send him there. It was in these circumstances 
that he came into contact with his countryman, Mr. (now 
Dr.) Moffat, who was then in England, creating much 
interest in his South African mission. The idea of his 
going to Africa became a settled thing, and was soon 
carried into effect. 

" I had occasion " (Dr. Moffat has informed us) " to call for some 
one at Mrs. Sewell's, a boarding-house for young missionaries in 
Aldersgate Street, where Livingstone lived. I observed soon that this 
young man was interested in my story, that he would sometimes come 
quietly and ask me a question or two, and that he was always desirous 
to know where I was to speak in public, and attended on these 
occasions. By and by he asked me whether I thought he would do 
for Africa. I said I believed he would, if he would not go to an old 
station, but would advance to unoccupied ground, specifying the vast 
plain to the north, where I had sometimes seen, in the morning sun, 
the smoke of a thousand villages, where no missionary had ever been. 
At last Livingstone said : ' What is the use of my waiting for the end 

1 Good Words, 1874, p. 285. 



1836-40.] MISSIONARY PREPARATION. 35 

of this abominable opium Avar? I will go at once to Africa.' The 
Directors concurred, and Africa became his sphere." 

It is no wonder that all his life Livingstone had a 
very strong faith in Providence, for at every turn of his 
career up to this point, some unlooked-for circumstance 
had come in to give a new direction to his history. First, 
his reading Dick s Philosop hy of a Future State, which led 
him to Christ, but did not lead him away from science ; 
then his falling in with Gutzlaff's Appeal, which induced 
him to become a medical missionary ; the Opium War, 
which closed China against him ; the friendly word of the 
Director who procured for him another trial ; Mr. Moffat's 
visit, which deepened his interest in Africa ; and finally, 
the issue of a dangerous illness that attacked him in 
London, — all indicated the unseen hand that was pre- 
paring him for his great work. 

The meeting of Livingstone with Moffat is far too 
important an event to be passed over without remark. 
Both directly and indirectly Mr. Moffat's influence on his 
young brother, afterwards to become his son-in-law, was 
remarkable. In after life they had a thorough apprecia- 
tion of each other. No family on the face of the globe 
could have been so helpful to Livingstone in connection 
with the great work to which he gave himself. If the 
old Roman fashion of surnames still prevailed, there is no 
household of which all the members would have been 
better entitled to put Afhicanus after their name. The 
interests of the great continent were dear to them all. 
In 1372, when one of the Search Expeditions for Living- 
stone was fitted out, a grandson of Dr. Moffat, another 
Robert Moffat, was among those who set out in the hope 
of relieving him ; cut off at the very beginning, in the 
flower of his youth, he left his bones to moulder in 
African soil. 

The illness to which we have alluded was an attack of 
congestion of the liver, with an affection of the lungs. 



36 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. ii. 

It seemed likely to prove fatal, and the only chance of 
recovery appeared to be a visit to his home, and return 
to his native air. In accompanying him to the steamer, 
Mr. Moore found him so weak that he could scarcely walk 
on board. He parted from him in tears, fearing that he 
had but a few days to live. But the voyage and the 
visit had a wonderful effect, and very soon Living- 
stone was in his usual health. The parting with his 
father and mother, as they afterwards told Mr. Moore, 
was very affecting. It happened, however, that they met 
once more. It was felt that the possession of a medical 
diploma would be of service, and Livingstone returned to 
Scotland in November 1840, and passed at Glasgow as 
Licentiate of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons. It 
was on this occasion he found it so inconvenient to have 
opinions of his own and the knack of sticking to them. 
It seemed as if he was going to be rejected for obstinately 
maintaining his views in regard to the stethoscope ; but 
he pulled through. A single night was all that he could 
spend with his family, and they had so much to speak of 
that David proposed they should sit up all night. This, 
however, his mother would not hear of. " I remember 
my father and him," writes his sister, " talking over the 
prospects of Christian missions. They agreed that the 
time would come when rich men and great men would 
think it an honour to support whole stations of mission- 
aries, instead of spending their money on hounds and 
horses. On the morning of 17th November, we got up at 
five o'clock. My mother made coffee. David read the 
121st and 135th Psalms, and prayed. My father and he 
walked to Glasgow to catch the Liverpool steamer." On 
the Broomielaw, father and son looked for the last time 
on earth on each other's faces. • The old man walked back 
slowly to Blantyre, with a lonely heart no doubt, yet 
praising God. David's face was now set in earnest 
toward the Dark Continent. 



iS 4 i-43-] FIH ST TWO YEARS IN AFRICA. 



CHAPTEE III. 

FIRST TWO YEARS IX AFRICA. 

a.d. 1841-1843. 

His ordination — Voyage out — At Rio de Janeiro — At the Cape — He proceeds to 
Kuruman — Letters— Journey of 700 miles to Bechuana country— Selection of 
site for new station — Second excursion to Bechuana country — Letter to his 
sister — Influence with chiefs— Bubi —Construction of a water-dam — Sekomi 
— Woman seized by a lion— The Bakaa — Sebehwe — Letter to Dr. Risdon 
Bennett — Detention at Kuruman — He visits Sebehwe's village — Bakhatlas — 
Sechele, chief of Bakwains — Livingstone translates hymns — Travels 400 miles 
on oxback — Returns to Kuruman — Is authorised to form new station — 
Receives contributions for native missionary — Letters to Directors on their 
Mission policy — He goes to new station — Fellow-travellers — Purchase of site 
— Letter to Dr. Bennett — Desiccation of South Africa — Death of a servant, 
Sehamy — Letter to his parents. 

Ox the 20 th November 1840, Livingstone was ordained 
a missionary in Albion Street Chapel, along with the 
Rev. William Ross, the service being conducted by the 
Rev. J. J. Freeman and the Rev. R. Cecil. On the 8th 
of December he embarked on board the ship " George,'' 
under Captain Donaldson, and proceeded to the Cape, and 
thence to Algoa Bay. On the way the ship had to put 
in at Rio de Janeiro, and he had a glance at Brazil, with 
which he was greatly charmed. It was the only glimpse 
he ever got of any part of the great continent of 
America. Writing to the Rev. G. D. Watt, with whom 
he had become intimate in London, and who was pre- 
paring to go as a missionary to India, he says : — 

" It is certainly the finest place I ever saw ; everything delighted 
me except man. . . . We lived in the home of an American Episcopal 
Methodist minister — the only Protestant missionary in Brazil. . . . 



3 8 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. hi. 

Tracts and Bibles are circulated, and some effects might be expected, 
were a most injurious influence not exerted by European visitors. 
These alike disgrace themselves and the religion they profess by 
drunkenness. All other vices are common in Rio. When will the 
rays of Divine light dispel the darkness in this beautiful empire? 
The climate is delightful. I wonder if disabled Indian missionaries 
could not make themselves useful there." 

During the voyage his chief friend was the captain of 
the ship. " He was very obliging to me," says Living- 
stone, "and gave me all the information respecting the 
use of the quadrant in his power, frequently sitting up 
till twelve o'clock at night for the purpose of taking lunar 
observations with me." Thus another qualification was 
acquired for his very peculiar life-work. Sundays were 
not times of refreshing, at least not beyond his closet. 
" The captain rigged out the church on Sundays, and we 
had service ; but I being a poor preacher, and the chaplain 
addressing them all as Christians already, no moral influ- 
ence was exerted, and even had there been on Sabbath, it 
would have been neutralised by the week-day conduct. 
In fact, no good was done." Neither at Rio, nor on 
board ship, nor anywhere, could good be done without the 
element of personal character. This was Livingstone's 
strong conviction to the end of his life. 

In his first letter to the Directors of the London 
Missionary Society he tells them that he had spent most 
of his time at sea in the study of theology, and that 
he was deeply grieved to say that he knew of no spiritual 
good having been done in the case of any one on board 
the ship. His characteristic honesty thus showed itself 
in his very first despatch. 

Arriving at the Cape, where the ship was detained a 
month, he spent some time with Dr. Philip, then acting 
as agent for the Society, with informal powers as super- 
intendent. Dr. Philip was desirous of returning home 
for a time, and very anxious to find some one to take his 
place as minister of the congregation of Cape Town, in 



1841-43] FIRST TWO YEARS IN AFRICA. 39 

his absence. The office was offered to Livingstone, who 
rejected it with no little emphasis — not for a moment 
would he think of it, nor would he preach the gospel 
within any other man's line. He had not been long at 
the Cape when he found to his surprise and sorrow that 
the missionaries were not all at one, either as to the 
general policy of the mission, or in the matter of social 
intercourse and confidence. The shock was a severe one ; 
it was not lessened by what he came to know of the 
spirit and life of a few — happily only a few — of his 
brethren afterwards ; and undoubtedly it had an influence 
on his future life. It showed him that there were mis- 
sionaries whose profession was not supported by a life of 
consistent well-doing, although it did not shake his 
confidence in the character and the work of missionaries 
on the whole. He saw that in the mission there was 
what might be called a colonial side and a native side ; 
some sympathising with the colonists and some with the 
natives. He had no difficulty in making up his mind 
between them ; he drew instinctively to the party that 
were for protecting the natives against the unrighteous 
encroachments of the settlers. 

On leaving the ship at Algoa Bay, he proceeded by 
land to Kuruman or Lattakoo in the Bechuana country, 
the most northerly station of the Society in South Africa, 
and the usual residence of Mr. Moffat, who was still 
absent in England. In this his first African journey, the 
germ of the future traveller was apparent. " Crossing 
the Orange Paver," he says, " I got my vehicle aground, 
and my oxen got out of order, some with their heads where 
their tails should be, and others with their heads twisted 
round in the yoke so far that they appeared bent on 
committing suicide, or overturning the wagon. ... I 
like travelling very much indeed. There is so much 
freedom connected with our African manners. We pitch 
our tent, make our fire, etc., wherever we choose, walk, 



4 o DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. hi. 

ride, or shoot at abundance of all sorts of game as our 
inclination leads us ; but there is a great drawback : we 
can't study or read when we please. I feel this very 
much. I have made but very little progress in the 
language (can speak a little Dutch), but I long for the 
time when I shall give my undivided attention to it, and 
then be furnished with the means of making known the 
truth of the gospel." While at the Cape, Livingstone 
had heard something of a fresh-water lake ('Ngami) which 
all the missionaries were eager to see. If only they would 
give him a month or two to learn the colloquial language, 
he said they might spare themselves the pains of being 
" the first in at the death." It is interesting to remark 
farther that, in this first journey, science had begun to 
receive its share of attention. He is already bent on 
making a collection for the use of Professor Owen, 1 and 
is enthusiastic in describing some agatised trees and other 
curiosities which he met with. 

Writing to his parents from Port Elizabeth, 19th May 
1841, he gives his first impressions of Africa. He had 
been at a station called Hankey : — 

"The scenery was very fine. The white sand in some places 
near the beach drifted up in large wreaths exactly like snow. One 
might imagine himself in Scotland were there not a hot sun overhead. 
The woods present an aspect of strangeness, for everywhere the eye 
meets the foreign-looking tree from which the bitter aloes is extracted, 
popping up its head among the mimosa bushes and stunted acacias. 
Beautiful humming-birds fly about in great numbers, sucking the 
nectar from the flowers, which are in great abundance and very 
beautiful. I was much pleased with my visit to Hankey. . . The 
state of the people presents so many features of interest, that one may 
talk about it and convey some idea of what the Gospel has done. The 
full extent of the benefit received can, however, be understood only 
by those who witness it in contrast with other places that have not 
been so highly favoured. My expectations have been far exceeded. 
Everything I witnessed surpassed my hopes, and if this one station is 
a fair sample of the whole, the statements of the missionaries with 
regard to their success are far within the mark. The Hottentots of 
Hankey appear to be in a state similar to that of our forefathers in 
1 This collection never reached its destination. 



1841-45] FIRST TWO YEARS IN AFRICA. 4 1 

the days immediately preceding the times of the Covenanters. They 
have a prayer-meeting every morning at four o'clock, and veil attended. 
They began it during a visitation of measles among them, and liked it 
so much, that they still continue." 

He goes on to say that as the natives had no clocks or 
watches, mistakes sometimes occurred about ringing the 
bell for this meeting, and sometimes the people found 
themselves assembled at twelve or one o'clock instead of 
four. The welcome to the missionaries (their own mis- 
sionary was returning from the Cape with Livingstone) 
wonderful. Muskets were fired at their approach, 
then big guns ; and then men, women, and children, 
rushed at the top of their speed to shake hands and 
welcome them. The missionary had lost a little boy, and 
out of respect each of the people had something black on 
his head. Both public worship and family worship were 
very interesting, the singing of hymns being very beautiful. 
The bearing of these Christianised Hottentots was in 
complete contrast to that of a Dutch family whom he 
visited as a medical man one Sunday. There was no 
Sunday ; the man's wife and daughters were dancing 
before the house, while a black played the fiddle. 

His instructions from the Directors were to go to 
Kuruman, remain there till Mr. Moffat should return from 
England, and turn his attention to the formation of a new 
station farther north, awaiting more specific instructions. 
He arrived at Kuruman on the 31st July 1841, but no 
instructions had come from the Directors ; his sphere of 
work was quite undetermined, and he began to entertain 
the idea of going to Abyssinia. There could be no doubt 
that a Christian missionary was needed there, for the 
country had none ; but if he should go, he felt that pro- 
bably lio would never return. In writing of this to his 
friend Watt, he used words almost prophetic: "Whatever 
way my life may be spent .so as but to promote the glory 
of our gracious God, I fuel anxious to do it. . . . Mj life 



42 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. hi. 

may be spent as profitably as a pioneer as in any other 
way!' 

In his next letter to the London Missionary Society, 
dated Kuruman, 23d September 1841, he gives his 
impressions of the field, and unfolds an idea which took 
hold of him at the very beginning, and never lost its 
grip. It was, that there was not population enough 
about the South to justify a concentration of missionary 
labour there, and that the policy of the Society ought to 
be one of expansion, moving out far and wide wherever 
there was an opening, and making the utmost possible 
use of native agency, in order to cultivate so wide a field. 
In England he had thought that Kuruman might be 
made a great missionary institute, whence the beams of 
divine truth might diverge in every direction, through 
native agents supplied from among the converts ; but 
since he came to the spot he had been obliged to abandon 
that notion ; not that the Kuruman mission had not been 
successful, or that the attendance at public worship was 
small, but simply because the population was meagre, 
and seemed more likely to become smaller than larger. 
The field from which native agents might be drawn was 
thus too small. Farther north there was a denser 
population. It was therefore his purpose, along with a 
brother missionary, to make an early journey to the 
interior, and bury himself among the natives, to learn 
their language, and slip into their modes of thinking and 
feeling. He purposed to take with him two of the best 
qualified native Christians of Kuruman, to plant them as 
teachers in some promising locality ; and in case any 
difficulty should arise about their maintenance, he offered, 
with characteristic generosity, to defray the cost of one 
of them from his own resources. 

Accordingly, in company with a brother missionary 
from Kuruman, a journey of seven hundred miles was 
performed before the end of the year, leading chiefly to 



1841-43] FIRST TWO YEARS IN AFRICA. 43 

two results : in the first place, a strong confirmation of 
his views on the subject of native agency ; and in the 
second place, the selection of a station, two hundred and 
fifty miles north of Kuruman, as the most suitable for 
missionary operations. Seven hundred miles travelled 
over more Africano seemed to indicate a vast territory ; 
but on looking at it on the map, it was a mere speck on 
the continent of heathenism. How was that continent 
ever to be evangelised 1 He could think of no method 
except an extensive employment of native agency. And 
the natives, when qualified, were admirably qualified. 
Their warm, affectionate manner of dealing with their 
fellow-men, their ability to present the truth to their 
minds freed from the strangeness of which foreigners 
could not divest it, and the eminent success of those 
employed by the brethren of Griqua Town, were greatly 
in their favour. Two natives had likewise been employed 
recently by the Kuruman Mission, and these had been 
highly efficient and successful. If the Directors would 
allow him to employ more of these, conversions would 
increase in a compound ratio, and regions not yet ex- 
plored by Europeans would soon be supplied with 
the bread of life. 

In regard to the spot selected for a mission, there 
were many considerations in its favour. In the im- 
mediate neighbourhood of Kuruman the chiefs hated 
the gospel, because it deprived them of their super- 
numerary wives. In the region farther north, this 
feeling had not yet established itself; on the contrary, 
there was an impression favourable to Europeans, and a 
desire for their alliance. These Bechuana tribes had 
suffered much from the marauding invasions of their 
neighbours ; and recently, the most terrible marauder of 
the country, Mosilikatse, after being driven westwards 
by the Dutch Boers, had taken up his abode on the banks 
of a central lake, and resumed his raids, which were 



44 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. hi. 

keeping the whole country in alarm. The more peaceful 
tribes had heard of the value of the white man, and of 
the weapons by which a mere handful of whites had 
repulsed hordes of marauders. They were therefore dis- 
posed to welcome the stranger, although this state of 
feeling could not be relied on as sure to continue, for 
Griqua hunters and individuals from tribes hostile to the 
gospel were moving northwards, and not only circulating 
rumours unfavourable to missionaries, but by their wicked 
lives introducing diseases previously unknown. If these 
regions therefore were to be taken possession of by the 
gospel, no time was to be lost. For himself, Livingstone 
had no hesitation in going to reside in the midst of these 
savages, hundreds of miles away from civilisation, not 
merely for a visit, but, if necessary, for the whole of his 
life. 

In writing to his sisters after this journey (8th De- 
cember 1841), he gives a graphic account of the country, 
and some interesting notices of the people : — 

" Janet, I suppose, will feel anxious to know what our dinner was. 
"We boiled a piece of the flesh of a rhinoceros which was toughness 
itself, the night before. The meat was our supper, and porridge made 
of Indian corn-meal and gravy of the meat made a very good dinner 
next day. When about 150 miles from home we came to a large 
village. The chief had sore eyes; I doctored them, and he fed us 
pretty well with milk and beans, and sent a fine buck after me as a 
present. When we had got about ten or twelve miles on the way, a little 
girl about eleven or twelve years of age came up and sat down under 
my wagon, having run away for the purpose of coming with us to 
Kuruman. She had lived with a sister whom she had lately lost by 
death. Another family took possession of her for the purpose of 
selling her as soon as she was old enough for a wife. But not liking 
this, she determined to run away from them and come to some friends 
near Kuruman. With this intention she came, and thought of walk- 
ing all the way behind my wagon. I was pleased with the deter- 
mination of the little creature, and gave her some food. But before 
we had remained long there, I heard her sobbing violently as if her 
heart would break. On looking round, I observed the cause. A man 
with a gun had been sent after her, and he had just arrived. I did 
not know well what to do now, but I was not in perplexity long, for 
Pomare, a native convert who accompanied us, started up and defended 



1841-43.] FIRST TWO YEARS IN AFRICA. 45 

her cause. He being the son of a chief, and possessed of some little 
authority, managed the matter nicely. She had been loaded with 
beads to render her more attractive, and fetch a higher price. These 
she stripped off and gave to the man, and desired him to go away. I 
afterwards took measures for hiding her, and though fifty men had 
come for her, they would not have got her." 

The story reads like an allegory or a prophecy. In 
the person of the little maid, oppressed and enslaved 
Africa comes to the good Doctor for protection ; instinc- 
tively she knows she may trust him ; his heart opens at 
once, his ingenuity contrives a way of protection and 
deliverance, and he will never give her up. It is a little 
picture of Livingstone's life. 

In fulfilment of a promise made to the natives in the 
interior that he would return to them, Livingstone set 
out on a second tour into the interior of the Bechuana 
country on 10th February 1842. His objects were, first, 
to acquire the native language more perfectly, and 
second, by suspending his medical practice, which had 
become inconveniently large at Kuruman, to give his 
undivided attention to the subject of native agents. He 
took with him two native members of the Kuruman 
church, and two other natives for the management of 
the wagon. 

The first person that specially engaged his interest in 
this journey was a chief of the name of Bubi, whose 
people were Bakwains. With him he stationed one of 
the native agents as a teacher, the chief himself collecting 
the children and supplying them with food. The honesty 
of the people was shown in their leaving untouched all 
the contents of his wagon, though crowds of them 
visited it. Livingstone was already acquiring a powerful 
influence, both with chiefs and people, the result of his 
considerate and conciliatory treatment of both. He had 
already observed the failure of some of his brethren to 
mnuence them, and his sagacity had discerned the cause. 
His success in inducing Bubi's people to dig a canal was 



46 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. in. 

contrasted in a characteristic passage of a private letter, 
with the experience of others : — 

" The doctor and the rainmaker among these people are one and 
the same person. As I did not like to be behind my professional 
brethren, I declared I could make rain too, not however by enchant- 
ments like them, but by leading out their river for irrigation. The 
idea pleased mightily, and to work we went instanter. Even the 
chiefs own doctor is at it, and works like a good fellow, laughing 
heartily at the cunning of the ' foreigner ' who can make rain so. We 
have only one spade, and this is without a handle ; and yet by means 
of sticks sharpened to a point we have performed all the digging of a 
pretty long canal. The earth was lifted out in * gowpens ' and 
carried to the huge dam we have built in karosses (skin cloaks), 
tortoise-shells, or wooden bowls. We intended nothing of the 
ornamental in it, but when we came to a huge stone, we were forced 
to search for a way round it. The consequence is, it has assumed a 
beautifully serpentine appearance. This is, I believe, the first instance 
in which Bechuanas have been got to work without wages. It was 
with the utmost difficulty the earlier missionaries got them to do any- 
thing. The missionaries solicited their permission to do what they 
did, and this was the very way to make them show oft' their airs, for 
they are so disobliging ; if they perceive any one in the least depen- 
dent upon them, they immediately begin to tyrannise. A more mean 
and selfish vice certainly does not exist in the world. I am trying a 
different plan with them. I make my presence with any of them a 
favour, and when they show any impudence, I threaten to leave them, 
and if they don't amend, I put my threat into execution. By a bold 
free course among them I have had not the least difficulty in manag- 
ing the most fierce. They are in one sense fierce, and in another the 
greatest cowards in the world. A kick would, I am persuaded, quell 
the courage of the bravest of them. Add to this the report which 
many of them verily believe, that I am a great wizard, and you will 
understand how I can with ease visit any of them. Those who do 
not love, fear me, and so truly in their eyes am I possessed of super- 
natural power, some have not hesitated to affirm I am capable of even 
raising the dead ! The people of a village visited by a French 
brother actually believed it. Their belief of my powers, I suppose, 
accounts too for the fact that I have not missed a single article either 
from the house or wagon since I came amongst them, and this, 
although all my things lay scattered about the room, while crammed 
with patients." 

It was unfortunate that the teacher whom Living- 
stone stationed with Bubi's people was seized with 
a violent fever, so that he was obliged to bring him 



1841-43-] FIRST TWO YEARS IN AFRICA. 47 

away. As for Babi himself, he was afterwards burned 
to death by an explosion of gunpowder, which one of 
his sorcerers was trying, by means of burnt roots, to 
un -bewitch, 

In advancing, Livingstone had occasion to pass through 
a part of the great Kalahari desert, and here he met 
with Sekomi, a chief of the Bamangwato, from whom 
also he received a most friendly reception. The ignor- 
ance of this tribe he found to be exceedingly great : — 

" Their conceptions of the Deity are of the most vague and con- 
tradictory nature, and the name of God conveys no more to their 
understanding than the idea of superiority. Hence they do not 
hesitate to apply the name to their chiefs. I was every day shocked 
by being addressed by that title, and though it as often furnished me 
with a text from which to tell them of the only true God and Jesus 
Christ whom he has sent, yet it deeply pained me, and I never felb 
so fully convinced of the lamentable deterioration of our species. It 
is indeed a mournful truth that man has become like the beasts that 
perish." 

The place was greatly infested by lions, and during 
Livingstone's visit an awful occurrence took place that 
made a great impression on him : — 

"A woman was actually devoured in her garden during my visit, 
and that so near the town that I had frequently walked past it. It 
Mas most affecting to hear the cries of the orphan children of this 
woman. During the whole day after her death the surrounding rocks 
and valleys rang and re-echoed with their bitter cries. I frequently 
thought as I listened to the loud sobs, painfully indicative of the 
sorrows of those who have no hope, that if some of our churches could 
have heard their sad wailings, it would have awakened the firm resolu- 
tion to do more for the heathen than they have done." 

Poor Sekomi advanced a new theory of regeneration 
which Livingstone was unable to work out : — 

"On one occasion Sekomi, having sat by me in the hut for some 
time in deep thought, at length addressing me by a pompous title said, 
' I wish you would change my heart. Give me medicine to change it, for 
it is proud, proud and angry, angry always.' I lifted up the Testament 

and was about to tell him of the only way in which the heart can be 
changed, but he interrupted me by saying, 'ISay, I wish to have it 



4 8 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap, hi, 

changed by medicine, to drink and have it changed at once, for it is 
always very proud and very uneasy, and continually angry with some 
one/ He then rose and went away." 

A third tribe visited at this time was the Bakaa, and 
here, too, Livingstone was able to put in force his wonder- 
ful powers of management. Shortly before, the Bakaa had 
murdered a trader and his company. When Livingstone 
appeared their consciences smote them, and, with the 
exception of the chief and two attendants, the whole of 
the people fled from his presence. Nothing could allay 
their terror, till, a dish of porridge having been prepared, 
they saw Livingstone partake of it along with themselves 
without distrust. When they saw him lie down and fall 
asleep they were quite at their ease. Thereafter he began 
to speak to them : — 

" I had more than ordinary pleasure in telling these murderers of 
the precious blood which cleanseth from all sin. I bless God that He 
has conferred on one so worthless the distinguished privilege and 
honour of being the first messenger of mercy that ever trod these 
regions. Its being also the first occasion on which I had ventured to 
address a number of Bechuanas in their own tongue without reading 
it, renders it to myself one of peculiar interest. I felt more freedom 
than I had anticipated, but I have an immense amount of labour still 
before me, ere I can call myself a master of Sichuana. This journey 
discloses to me that when I have acquired the Batlapi, there is an- 
other and perhaps more arduous task to be accomplished in the other 
dialects, but by the Divine assistance I hope I shall be enabled to 
conquer. When I left the Bakaa, the chief sent his son with a 
number of his people to see me safe part of the way to the 
Makalaka." 

On his way home, in passing through Bubi's country, 
he was visited by sixteen of the people of Sebehwe, a 
chief who had successfully withstood Mosilikatse, but 
whose cowardly neighbours, under the influence of jealousy, 
had banded together to deprive him of what they had 
not had the courage to defend. Consequently he had 
been driven into the sandy desert, and his object in 
sendiDg to Livingstone was to solicit his advice and pro- 
tection, as he wished to come out, in order that his 



1841-43] FIRST TWO YEARS IN AFRICA. 49 

people might grow corn, etc. Sebehwe, like many of the 
other people of the country, had the notion that if he 
got a single white man to live with him, he would be 
quite secure. It was no wonder that Livingstone early 
acquired the strong conviction that if missions could 
only be scattered over Africa, their immediate effect in 
promoting the tranquillity of the continent could hardly 
be over-estimated. 

We have given these details somewhat fully, because 
they show that before he had been a year in the country 
Livingstone had learned how to rule the Africans. From 
the very first, his genial address, simple and fearless 
manner, and transparent kindliness formed a spell which 
rarely failed. He had great faith in the power of humour. 
He was never afraid of a man who had a hearty laugh. 
By a playful way of dealing with the people, he made 
them feel at ease with him, and afterwards he could be 
solemn enough when the occasion required. His medical 
knowledge helped him greatly ; but for permanent in- 
fluence all would have been in vain if he had not uniformly 
observed the rules of justice, good feeling, and good 
manners. Often he would say that the true road to 
influence was patient continuance in well-doing. It is 
remarkable that, from the very first, he should have seen 
the charm of that method which he employed so success- 
fully to the end. 

In the course of this journey, Livingstone was within 
ten days of Lake 'Ngami, the lake of which he had heard 
at the Cape, and which he actually discovered in 1849; 
and he might have discovered it now, had discovery 
alone been his object. Part of his journey was performed 
on foot, in consequence of the draught oxen having be- 
come sick : — 

"Some of my companions," he says in his first book, "who hart 
recently joined us, and did not know that I understood a little of their 
speech, were overheard Ly me discussing my appearance and powers: 

D 



5 o DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. hi. 

' He is not strong, he is quite slim, and only appears stout because he 
puts himself into those bags (trousers) ; he will soon knock up.' This 
caused my Highland blood to rise, and made me despise the fatigue of 
keeping them all at the top of their speed for days together, and 
until I heard them expressing proper opinions of my pedestrian 
powers." 

We have seen how full Livingstone's heart was of the 
missionary spirit ; how intent he was on making friends 
of the natives, and how he could already preach in one 
dialect, and was learning another. But the activity of 
his mind enabled him to give attention at the same time 
to other matters. He was already pondering the structure 
of the great African Continent, and carefully investigating 
the process of desiccation that had been going on for a 
long time and had left much uncomfortable evidence of 
its activity in many parts. In the desert, he informs 
his friend Watt that no fewer than thirty-two edible 
roots and forty-three fruits grew without cultivation. 
He had the rare faculty of directing his mind at the full 
stretch of its power to one great object, and yet, 
apparently without effort, giving minute and most care- 
ful attention to many other matters, — all bearing, how- 
ever, on the same great end. 

A very interesting letter to Dr. Bisdon Bennett, dated 
Kuruman, 18th Dec. 1841, gives an account of his first 
year's work from the medical and scientific point of view. 
First, he gives an amusing picture of the Bechuana 
chiefs, and then some details of his medical practice : — 

" The people are all under the feudal system of government, the 
chieftainship is hereditary, and although the chief is usually the 
greatest ass, and the most insignificant of the tribe in appearance, the 
people pay a deference to him which is truly astonishing. ... I 
feel the benefit often of your instructions, and of those I got through 
your kindness. Here I have an immense practice. I have patients 
now under treatment who have walked 130 miles for my advice.; and 
when these go home, others will come for the same purpose. This is 
the country for a medical man if he wants a large practice, but he 
must leave fees out of the question ! The Bechuanas have a great deal 
more disease than I expected to find amongst a savage nation ; but 



iS 4 i-43-] FIRST TWO YEARS IN AFRICA. 5 i 

little else can be expected, for they are nearly naked, and endure the 
scorching heat of the day and the chills of the night in that condition. 
Add to this that they are absolutely omnivorous. Indigestion, 

rheumatism, ophthalmia are the prevailing diseases Many very 

had cases were brought to me, and sometimes, when travelling, my 
wagon was quite besieged by their blind, and halt, and lame. What 
a mighty effect would be produced if one of the seventy disciples were 
amongst them to heal them all by a word ! The Beclmanas resort to 
the Bushmen and the poor people that live in the desert, for dootors. 
The fact of my dealing in that line a little is so strange, and now my 
fame has spread far and wide. But if one of Christ's apostles were 
here, I should think he would be very soon known all over the con- 
tinent to Abyssinia, The great deal of work I have had to do in 
attending to the sick has proved beneficial to me, for they make me 
speak the language perpetually, and if I were inclined to be lazy in 
learning it, they would prevent me indulging the propensity. And 
they are excellent patients too besides. There is no wincing ; every- 
thing prescribed is done instanler. Their only failing is that they 
become tired of a long course. But in any operation, even the women 
sit unmoved. I have been quite astonished again and again at their 
calmness. In cutting out a tumour, an inch in diameter, they sit and 
talk as if they felt nothing. ' A man like me never cries,' they say, 
' they are children that cry.' And it is a fact that the men never cry. 
But when the Spirit of God works on their minds they cry most 
piteously. Sometimes in church they endeavour to screen themselves 
from the eyes of the preacher by hiding under the forms or covering 
their heads with their karosses as a remedy against their convictions. 
And when they find that won't do, they rush out of the church and 
run with all their might, crying as if the hand of death were behind 
them. One would think, when they got away, there they would remain ; 
but no, there they are in their places at the very next meeting. It is 
not to be wondered at that they should exhibit agitations of body 
when the mind is affected, as they are quite unaccustomed to restrain 
their feelings. But that the hardened beings should be moved 
mentally at all is wonderful indeed. If you saw them in their savage 
state you would feel the force of this more. . . . N.B. — I have got for 
Professor Owen specimens of the incubated ostrich in abundance, and 
am waiting for an opportunity to transmit the box to the College. I 
tried to keep for you some of the fine birds of the interior, but the 
weather was so horribly hot they were putrid in a few hours." 

When he returned to Kuruman in June 1842, he 
found that no instructions had as yet come from the 
Directors as to his permanent quarters. He was preparing 
for another journey when news arrived that, contrary to 
his advice, Sebehwe had left the desert where he wag 



52 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. hi. 

encamped, had been treacherously attacked by the chief 
Mahura, and that many of his people, including women 
and children, had been savagely murdered. What aggra- 
vated the case was that several native Christians from 
Kuruman had been at the time with Sebehwe, and that 
these were accused of having acted treacherously by him. 
But now no native would expose himself to the expected 
rage of Sebehwe, so that for want of attendants Living- 
stone could not go to him. He was obliged to remain 
for some months about Kuruman, itinerating to the 
neighbouring tribes, and taking part in the routine work 
of the station : that is to say preaching, printing, building 
a chapel at an out-station, prescribing for the sick, and 
many things else that would have been intolerable, he 
said, to a man of " clerical dignity." 

He was able to give his father a very encouraging 
report of the mission work (July 13, 1842) : — "The work 
of God goes on here notwithstanding all our infirmities. 
Souls are gathered in continually, and sometimes from 
among those you would never have expected to see 
turning to the Lord. Twenty-four were added to the 
Church last month, and there are several inquirers. At 
Motito, a French station about thirty-three miles north- 
east of this, there has been an awakening, and I hope 
much good will result. I have good news too from Rio 
de Janeiro. The Bibles that have been distributed are 
beginning to cause a stir." 

The state of the country continued so disturbed that 
it was not till February 1843 that he was able to set out 
for the village where Sebehwe had taken up his residence 
with the remains of his tribe. This visit he undertook at 
great personal risk. Though looking at first very ill- 
pleased, Sebehwe treated him in a short time in a most 
friendly way, and on the Sunday after his arrival, sent a 
herald to proclaim that on that day nothing should be 
done but pray to God and listen to the words of the 



1841-43] FIRST TWO YEARS IN AFRICA. 53 

foreigner. He himself listened with great attention while 
Livingstone told him of Jesus and the resurrection, and 
the missionary was often interrupted by the questions of 
the chief. Here then was another chief pacified, and 
brought under the preaching of the gospel. 

Livingstone then passed on to the country of the 
Bakhatla, where he had purposed to erect his mission- 
station. The country was fertile, and the people indus- 
trious, and among 1 other industries was an iron manu- 
factory, to which as a bachelor he got admission, whereas 
married men were wont to be excluded, through fear that 
they would bewitch the iron ! When he asked the chief 
if he would like him to come and be his missionary, he 
held up his hands and said, " Oh, I shall dance if you 
do ; I shall collect all my people to hoe for you a garden, 
and you will get more sweet reed and corn than myself." 
The cautious Directors at home, however, had sent no 
instructions as to Livingstone's station, and he could 
only say to the chief that he would tell them of his 
desire for a missionary. 

At a distance of five days' journey beyond the Ba- 
khatla was situated the village of Sechele, chief of the 
Bakwains, afterwards one of Livingstone's greatest friends. 
Sechele had been enraged at him for not visiting him 
the year before, and threatened him with mischief. It 
happened that his only child was ill when the missionary 
arrived, and also the child of one of his principal men. 
Livingstone's treatment of both was successful, and 
Sechele had not an angry word. Some of his questions 
struck the heart of the missionary : — 

" ' Since it is true that all who die unforgiven are lost for ever, 
why did your nation not come to tell us of it before now % My 
ancestors are all gone, and none of them knew anything of what you 
tell me. How is this '.' I thought immediately," says Livingstone, 
"of the guilt of the Church, but did not confess. I told him multi- 
tudes in our own country were like himself, so much in love with 
their sins. My ancestors had spent a great deal of time in trying to 



54 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. hi. 

persuade them, and yet after all many of them by refusing were lost. 
We now wish to tell all the world about a Saviour, and if men did 
not believe, the guilt would be entirely theirs. Sechele has been 
driven to another part of his country from that in which he was 
located last year, and so has Bubi, so that the prospects I had of 
benefiting them by native teachers are for the present darkened." 

Among other things that Livingstone found time for 
in these wanderings among strange people was trans- 
lating hymns into the Sichuana language. Writing to his 
father (Bakwain Country, 21st March 1843), he says : — 

" Janet may be pleased to learn that I am become a poet, or 
rather a poetaster, in Sichuana. Half-a-dozen of my hymns were 
lately printed in a collection of the French brethren. One of them is 
a translation of ' There is a fountain filled with blood •' another, 
* Jesus shall reign where'er the sun;' others are on * The earth being 
filled with the glory of the Lord,' ' Self-dedication/ ' Invitation to 
Sinners,' ' The soul that loves God finds him everywhere.' Janet may 
try to make English ones on these latter subjects if she can, and 
Agnes will doubtless set them to music on the same condition. I do 
not boast of having done this, but only mention it to let you know 
that I am getting a little better fitted for the great work of a mis- 
sionary, that your hearts may be drawn out to more prayer for the 
success of the gospel proclaimed by my feeble lips." 

Livingstone was bent on advancing in the direction of 
the country of the Matebele and their chief Mosilikatse, 
but the ' : dread of that terrible warrior prevented him from 
getting Bakwains to accompany him, and being thus 
unable to rig out a wagon, he was obliged to travel on 
oxback. In a letter to Dr. Risdon Bennett (30th June 
1843), he gives a lively description of this mode of travel- 
ling : — "It is rough travelling, as you can conceive. The 
skin is so loose there is no getting one's great-coat, which 
has to serve both as saddle and blanket, to stick on ; and 
then the long horns in front, with which he can give 
one a punch in the abdomen if he likes, make us sit as 
bolt upright as dragoons. In this manner I travelled 
more than 400 miles." Visits to some of the villages 
of the Bakalahari gave him much pleasure, He was 
listened to with great attention, and while sitting by 



iS 4 i-43-] FIRST TWO YEARS IN AFRICA. 55 

their fires and listening to their traditionary tales, he 
intermingled the story of the Cross with their conversa- 
tion, and it was by far the happiest portion of his journey. 
The people were a poor, degraded, enslaved race, who 
hunted for other tribes to procure them skins ; they 
were far from wells, and had their gardens far from their 
houses, in order to have their produce safe from the 
chiefs who visited them. 

Coming on to his old friends the Bakaa, he found 
them out of humour with him, accusing him of having 
given poison to a native who had been seized with fever 
on occasion of his former visit. Consequently he could 
get little or nothing to eat, and had to content himself, 
as he wrote to his friends, with the sumptuous feasts of 
his imagination. With his usual habit of discovering 
good in all his troubles, however, he found cause for 
thankfulness at their stinginess, for in coming down a 
steep pass, absorbed with the questions which the people 
were putting to him, he forgot where he was, lost his 
footing, and striking his hand between a rock and his 
Bible which he was carrying, he suffered a compound 
fracture of his finger. His involuntary low diet saved 
him from taking fever, and the finger was healing favour- 
ably, when a sudden visit in the middle of the night from 
a lion, that threw them all into consternation, made him, 
without thinking, discharge his revolver at the visitor, 
and the recoil hurt him more than the shot did the lion. 
It rebroke his finger, and the second fracture was worse 
than the first. "The Bakwains," he says, "who were 
most attentive to my wants during the whole journey of 
more than 400 miles, tried to comfort me when they saw 
the blood again flowing by saying, ' You have hurt your- 
self, but you have redeemed us : henceforth we will only 
swear by you.' Poor creatures," he writes to Dr. Bennett, 
" I wished they had felt gratitude for the blood that was 
shed fur their precious souls." 



56 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. hi. 

Returning to Kuruman from this journey, in June 
1843, Livingstone was delighted to find at length a 
letter from the Directors of the Society authorising the 
formation of a settlement in the regions beyond. He 
found another letter that greatly cheered him, from a 
Mrs. M 'Robert, the wife of an Independent minister at 
Cambuslang (near Blantyre), who had collected and now 
sent him £12 for a native agent, and was willing, 
on the part of some young friends, to send presents 
of clothing for the converts. In acknowledging this 
letter, Livingstone poured out his very heart, so full 
was he of gratitude and delight. He entreated the 
givers to consider Mebalwe as their own agent, and 
to concentrate their prayers upon him, for prayer, he 
thought, was always more efficacious when it could be 
said, " One thing have I desired of the Lord." As to 
the present of clothing, he simply entreated his friends 
to send nothing of the kind; such things demoralised 
the recipients and bred endless jealousies. If he were 
allowed to charge something for the clothes, he would be 
pleased to have them, but on no other terms. 

Writing to the Secretary of the Society, Rev. A. 
Tidman (24th June 1843), and referring to the past success 
of the Mission in the nearer localities, he says : — " If you 
could realise this fact as fully as those on the spot can, \ 
you would be able to enter into the feelings of irrepressible 
delight with which I hail the decision of the Directors 
that we go forward to the dark interior. May the Lord 
enable me to consecrate my whole being to the glorious 
work ! " 

In this communication to the Directors Livingstone 
modestly, but frankly and firmly, gives them his mind on 
some points touched on in their letter to him. In regard 
to his favourite measure — native agency — he is glad 
that a friend has remitted money for the employment of 
one agent, and that others have promised the means of 



1841-43] FIRST TWO YEARS IN AFRICA. 57 

employing other two. On another subject lie had a 
communication to make to them which evidently cost 
him no ordinary effort. In his more private letters 
to his friends, from an early period after entering Africa, 
he had expressed himself very freely, almost con- 
temptuously, on the distribution of the labourers. There 
was far too much clustering about the Cape Colony, and 
the district immediately beyond it, and a woeful slow- 
ness to strike out, with the fearless chivalry that became 
missionaries of the Cross, and take possession of the vast 
continent beyond. All his letters reveal the chafing of 
his spirit with this confinement of evangelistic energy 
in the face of so vast a field, — this huddling together 
of labourers in sparsely peopled districts, instead of 
sending them forth over the whole of Africa, India, and 
China, to preach the gospel to every creature. He felt 
deeply that both the Church at home, and many of 
the missionaries on the spot, had a poor conception of 
missionary duty, out of which came little faith, little 
effort, little expectation, with a miserable tendency to 
exaggerate their own evils and grievances, and fall into 
paltry squabbles which would not have been possible if 
they had been fired with the ambition to win the world 
for Christ. 

But what it was a positive relief for him to whisper 
in the ear of an intimate friend, it demanded the courage 
of a hero to proclaim to the Directors of a great Society. 
It was like impugning their whole policy and arraigning 
their wisdom. But Livingstone could not say one thing 
in private and another in public. Frankly and fearlessly 
he proclaimed his views : — 

" The conviction to which I refer is that a much larger share of 
the benevolence of the Church and of missionary exertion is directed 
into this country than the amount of population, as compared with 
other countries, and the success attending those efforts, seem to call for. 
This conviction has been forced upon me, both by a personal inspection, 
more extensive than that which has fallen to the lot of any other, 



5 S . DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap ih. 

either missionary or trader, and by the sentiments of other mission- 
aries who have investigated the subject according to their opportunities. 
In reference to the population, I may mention that I was led in 
England to believe that the population of the interior was dense, and 
now since I have come to this country I have conversed with many, 
both of our Society and of the French, and none of them would reckon 
up the number of 30,000 Bechuanas." 

He then proceeds to details in a most characteristic 
way, giving the number of huts in every village, and 
being careful in every case, as his argument proceeded on 
there being a small population, rather to overstate than 
understate the number : — 

"In view of these facts and the confirmation of them I have 
received from both French and English brethren, computing the 
population much below what I have stated, I confess I feel grieved to 
hear of the arrival of new missionaries. Nor am I the only one who 
deplores their appointment to this country. Again and again have I 
been pained at heart to hear the question put, — Where will these new 
brethren find fields of labour in this country 1 Because I know that 
in India or China there are fields large enough for all their energies. 
1 am very far from undervaluing the success which has attended the 
labours of missionaries in this land. No ! I gratefully acknowledge 
the wonders God hath wrought, and I feel that the salvation of one 
soul is of more value than all the effort that has been expended ; but 
we are to seek the field where there is a possibility that most souls 
will be converted, and it is this consideration which makes me 
earnestly call the attention of the Directors to the subject of statistics. 
If these were actually returned — and there would be very little 
difficulty in doing so — it might, perhaps, be found that there is not a 
country better supplied with missionaries in the world, and that in 
proportion to the number of agents compared to the amount of popula- 
tion, the success may be inferior to most other countries where efforts 
have been made." 

Finding that a brother missionary was willing to 
accompany him to the station he had fixed on among 
the Bakhatlas, and enable him to set to work with the 
necessary arrangements, Livingstone set out with him in 
the beginning of August 1843, and arrived at his destina- 
tion after a fortnight's journey. Writing to his family, 
"in sight of the hills of Bakhatla," August 21st, 1843, 
he says : " We are in company with a party of three 



1841-43O FIRST TWO YEARS IN AFRICA. 59 

hunters : one of them from the West Indies, and two 
from India — Mr. Pringle from Tinnevelly, and Captain 
Steele of the Coldstream Guards, aide-de-camp to the 
Governor of Madras. . . . The Captain is the politest of 
the whole, well versed in the classics, and possessed of 
much general knowledge." Captain Steele, now General 
Sir Thomas Steele, proved one of Livingstone's best and 
most constant friends. In one respect the society of 
gentlemen who came to hunt would not have been sought 
by Livingstone, their aims and pursuits being so different 
from his ; but he got on with them wonderfully. In 
some instances these strangers were thoroughly sym- 
pathetic, but not in all. When they were not sympa- 
thetic on religion, he had a strong conviction that his 
first duty as a servant of Christ was to commend his 
religion by his. life and spirit — by integrity, civility, 
kindness, and constant readiness to deny himself in 
ol )liiringf others : having thus secured their esteem and 
confidence, 'he would take such quiet opportunities as 
presented themselves to get near their consciences on his 
Master's behalf. He took care that there should be no 
moving about on the day of rest, and that the outward 
demeanour of all should be befitting a Christian com- 
pany. For himself, while he abhorred the indiscriminate 
slaughter of animals for mere slaughter's sake, he thought 
well of the chase as a means of developing courage, 
promptness of action in time of danger, protracted en- 
durance of hunger and thirst, determination in the 
pursuit of an object, and other qualities befitting brave 
and powerful men. The respect and affection with which 
he inspired the gentlemen who were thus associated with 
him was very remarkable. Doubtless, with his quick 
apprehension, he learned a good deal from their society 
of the ways and feelings of a class with whom hitherto he 
had hardly ever been in contact. The large resources 
w T ith which they were furnished, in contrast to his own, 



6o DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. hi. 

excited no feeling of envy, nor even a desire to possess 
their ample means, unless he could have used them to 
extend missionary operations ; and the gentlemen them- 
selves would sometimes remark that the missionaries 
were more comfortable than they. Though they might 
at times spend thousands of pounds where Livingstone 
did not spend as many pence, and would be provided with 
horses, servants, tents, and stores, enough to secure com- 
fort under almost any conditions, they had not that key 
to the native heart and that power to command the 
willing services of native attendants which belonged so 
remarkably to the missionary. " When we arrive at a 
spot where we intend to spend the night," writes Living- 
stone to his family, " all hands immediately unyoke the 
oxen. Then one or two of the company collect wood ; 
one of us strikes up a fire, another gets out the water- 
bucket and fills the kettle ; a piece of meat is thrown on 
the fire, and if we have biscuits, we are at our coffee in 
less than half an hour after arriving. Our friends, 
perhaps, sit or stand shivering at their fire for two or 
three hours before they get their things ready, and are 
glad occasionally of a cup of coffee from us." 

The first act of the missionaries on arriving at their 
destination was to have an interview with the chief, and 
ask whether he desired a missionary. Having an eye to the 
beads, guns, and other things, of which white men seemed 
always to have an ample store, the chief and his men 
gave them a cordial welcome, and Livingstone next pro- 
ceeded to make a purchase of land. This, like Abraham 
with the sons of Heth, he insisted should be done in 
legal form, and for this purpose he drew up a written 
contract to which, after it was fully explained to them, 
both parties attached their signatures or marks. They 
then proceeded to the erection of a hut fifty feet by 
eighteen, not getting much help from the Bakhatlas, who 
devolved such labours on the women, but being greatly 



1841-43] FIRST TWO YEARS IN AFRICA. Ci 

helped by the native deacon, Mebalwe. All this Living- 
stone and his companion had done on their own re- 
sponsibility, and in the hope that the Directors would 
approve of it. But if they did not, he told them that 
he was at their disposal "to go anywhere — -provided if 

be FORWARD." 

The progress of medical and scientific work during 
this period is noted in a letter to Dr. Risdon Bennett, 
dated 30th June 1843. In addition to full details 
of the missionary work, this letter enters largely into 
the state of disease in South Africa, and records some 
interesting cases, medical and surgical. Still more in- 
teresting, perhaps, is the evidence it affords of the place 
in Livingstone's attention which began to be occupied 
by three great subjects of which we shall Jiear much 
anon — Fever, Tsetse, and "the Lake." Fever he con- 
sidered the greatest barrier to the evangelisation of Africa. 
Tsetse, an insect like a common fly, destroyed horses 
and oxen, so that many traders lost literally every 
ox in their team. As for the Lake, it lay somewhat 
beyond the outskirts of his new district, and was reported 
terrible for fever. He heard that Mr. Moffat intended to 
visit it, but he was somewhat alarmed lest his friend 
should suffer. It was not Moffat but Livingstone, how- 
ever, that first braved the risks of that fever swamp. 

A subject of special scientific interest to the mis- 
sionary during this period was — the desiccation of Africa. 
On this topic he addressed a long letter to Dr. Buckland in 
1843, of which, considerably to his regret, no public notice 
appears to have been taken, and perhaps the letter never 
reached him. The substance of this paper may, however, 
be gathered from a communication subsequently made to 
the Iloyal Geographical Society 1 after his first impression 
had been confirmed by enlarged observation and discovery. 
Around, and north of Kuruman, he had found many 

1 See Journal, vol. xxvii. p. 35G. 



62 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. hi. 

indications of a much larger supply of water in a former 
age. He ascribed the desiccation to the gradual eleva- 
tion of the western part of the country. He found traces 
of a very large ancient river which flowed nearly north 
and south to a large lake, including the bed of the present 
Orange River ; in fact he believed that the whole country 
south of Lake 'Ngami presented in ancient times very 
much the same appearance as the basin north of that 
lake does now, and that the southern lake disappeared 
when a fissure was made in the ridge through which the 
Orange River now proceeds to the sea. He could even 
indicate the spot where the river and the lake met, for 
some hills there had caused an eddy in which was found 
a mound of calcareous tufa and travertine, full of fossil 
bones. These fossils he was most eager to examine, in 
order to determine the time of the change ; but on his 
first visit he had no time, and when he returned, he was 
suddenly called away to visit a missionary's child, a 
hundred miles off. It happened that he was never in the 
same locality again, and had therefore no opportunity to 
complete his investigation. 

Dr. Livingstone's mind had that wonderful power 
which belongs to some men of the highest gifts, of pass- 
ing with the utmost rapidity, not only from subject to 
subject, but from one mood or key to another entirely 
different. In a letter to his family, written about this 
time, we have a characteristic instance. On one side of 
the sheet is a prolonged outburst of tender Christian love 
and lamentation over a young attendant who had died of 
fever suddenly ; on the other side, he gives a map of the 
Bakhatla country with its rivers and mountains, and is 
quite at home in the geographical details, crowning his 
description with some sentimental and half-ludicrous 
lines of poetry. No reasonable man will fancy that in 
the wailings of his heart there was any levity or want of 
sincerity. What we are about to copy merits careful 



i*4i-43-] FIRST TWO YEARS IN AFRICA. 63 

consideration : first, as evincing the depth and tenderness 
of his love for these black savages ; next, as showing that 
it was pre-eminently Christian love, intensified by his vivid 
view of the eternal world, and belief in Christ as the only 
Saviour ; and, lastly, as revealing the secret of the affec- 
tion which these poor fellows bore to him in return. The 
intensity of the scrutiny which he directs on his heart, 
and the severity of the judgment which he seems to pass 
on himself, as if he had not done all he might have done 
for the spiritual good of this young man, show with what 
intense conscientiousness he tried to discharge his mis- 
sionary duty : — 

" Poor Sehamy, where art thou now 1 Where lodges thy soul to- 
night % Didst thou think of what I told thee as thou turnedst from 
side to side in distress 1 I could now do anything for thee. I could 
weep for thy soul. But now nothing can be done. Thy fate is fixed. 
Oh, am I guilty of the blood of thy soul, my poor dear Sehamy ? If 
so, how shall I look upon thee in the judgment 1 ? But I told thee of 
a Saviour ; didst thou think of Him, and did He lead thee through the 
dark valley? Did He comfort as He only can 1 ? Help me, O Lord 
Jesus, to be faithful to every one. Remember me, and let me not be 
guilty of the blood of souls. This poor young man was the leader of 
the party. He governed the others, and most attentive he was to me. 
He anticipated my every want. He kept the water-calabash at his 
head at night, and if I awoke, he was ready to give me a draught 
immediately. When the meat was boiled he secured the best portion 
for me, the best place for sleeping, the best of everything. Oh, where 
is he now ? He became ill after leaving a certain tribe, and believed 
he had been poisoned. Another of the party and he ate of a certain 
dish given them by a woman whom they had displeased, and having 
met this man yesterday he said, ' Sehamy is gone to heaven, and I am 
almost dead by the poison given us by that woman.' I don't believe 
they took any poison, but they do, and their imaginations are dread- 
fully excited when they entertain that belief." 

The same letter intimates that in case his family 
should have arranged to emigrate to America, as he had 
formerly advised them to do, he had sent home a bill of 
which £10 was to aid the emigration, and £10 to be 
Bpent on clothes for himself. In regard to the latter 
sum. he now wished them to add it to the other, so that 



64 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. hi. 

his help might be more substantial ; and for himself he 
would make his old clothes serve for another year. The 
emigration scheme, which he thought would have added 
to the comfort of his parents and sisters, was not, how- 
ever, carried into effect. The advice to his family to 
emigrate proceeded from deep convictions. In a subse- 
quent letter (4th December 1850) he writes: — "If I 
could only be with you for a week, you would soon be 
pushing on in the world. The world is ours. Our 
Father made it to be inhabited, and many shall run to 
and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. It will be 
increased more by emigration than by missionaries" 
He held it to be God's wish that the unoccupied parts 
of the earth should be possessed, and he believed in 
Christian colonisation as a great means of spreading the 
gospel. We shall see afterwards . that to plant English 
and Scotch colonies in Africa became one of his master 
ideas and favourite schemes. 



IS43-47-] FIXST TWO STATIONS. 65 



CHAPTER IV. 

FIRST TWO STATIONS — MABOTSA AND CHONUANE. 
A.D. 1843-1847. 

Description of Mabotsa — A favourite hymn— General reading — Mabotsa infested 
with lions — Livingstone's encounter — The native deacon who saved him — 
His Sunday-school — Marriage to Mary Moffat — Work at Mabotsa — Pro- 
posed institution for training native agents — Letter to his mother — Trouble 
at Mabotsa — Noble sacrifice of Livingstone — Goes to Sechele and the 
Bakwains — New station at Chonuane — Interest shown by Sechele — Journeys 
eastward — The Boers and the Transvaal— Their occupation of the country, 
and treatment of the natives — Work among the Bakwains — Livingstone's 
desire to move on — Theological conflict at home — His view of it — His scientific 
labours and miscellaneous employments. 

Describing what was to be his new home to his friend 
Watt from Kuruman, 27th September 1843, Livingstone 
says : — " The Bakhatla have cheerfully offered to remove 
to a more favourable position than they at present occupy. 
We have fixed upon a most delightful valley, which we 
hope to make the centre of our sphere of operations in 
the interior. It is situated in what poetical gents like 
you would call almost an amphitheatre of mountains. 
The mountain range immediately in the rear of the spot 
where we have fixed our residence is called Mabotsa, or a 
marriage-feast. May the Lord lift upon us the light 
of His countenance, so that by our feeble instrument- 
ality many may thence be admitted to the marriage-feast 
of the Lamb. The people are as raw as may well be 
imagined ; they have not the least desire but for the 
things of the earth, and it must be a long time ere we 
can gain their attention to the things which are above." 

E 



66 DAVID LIVINGSTONE, [chap. iv. 

Something led him in his letter to Mr. Watt to talk 
of the old monks, and the spots they selected for their 
establishments. He goes on to write lovingly of what 
was good in some of the old fathers of the mediaeval 
Church, despite the strong feeling of many to the 
contrary ; indicating thus early the working of that 
catholic spirit which was constantly expanding in later 
years, which could separate the good in any man from 
all its evil surroundings, and think of it thankfully and 
admiringly. In the following extract we get a glimpse 
of a range of reading much wider than most would 
probably have supposed likely : — 

" Who can read the sermons of St. Bernard, the meditations of St. 
Augustine, etc., without saying, whatever other faults they had : They 
thirsted, and now they are filled. That hymn of St. Bernard, on the 
name of Christ, although in what might be termed dog-Latin, pleases 
me so ; it rings in my ears as I wander across the wide, wide wilder- 
ness, and makes me wish I was more like them — 

" Jesu, dulcis memoria, Jesu, spes pcenitentibus, 

Dans cordi vera gaudia ; Quam pius es petentibus ! 

Sed super rnel et omnia, Quam bonus es quserentibus ! 

Ejus dulcis prsesentia. Sed quid invenientibus ! 

Nil canitur suavius, Jesu, dulcedo cordium, 

Nil auditur jucundius, Fons, rivus, lumen mentium, 

Nil cogitatur dulcius, Excedens omne gaudium, 

Quam Jesus Dei Alius. Et omne desiderium." 

Livingstone was in the habit of fastening inside the 
boards of his journals, or writing on the fly-leaf, verses 
that interested him specially. In one of these volumes 
this hymn is copied at full length. In another we find 
a very yellow newspaper clipping of the " Song of the 
Shirt." In the same volume a clipping containing " The 
Bridge of Sighs," beginning 

" One more unfortunate, 
Weary of breath, 
B*ashly importunate, 
Gone to her death." 



1843-47] FIKST TWO STATIONS. 67 

In another we have Coleridge's lines : — ■ 

"He prayeth well who loveth well 
Both man and bird and beast. 
He prayeth best who loveth best 
All things both great and small ; 
For the dear God who loveth us, 
He made and loveth all." 

In another, hardly legible on the marble paper, we find, 

" So runs my dream : but what am 1 1 
An infant crying in the night : 
An infant crying for the light : 
And with no language but a cry." 

All Livingstone's personal friends testify that, con- 
sidering the state of banishment in which he lived, his 
acquaintance with English literature was quite remark- 
able. When a controversy arose in America as to the 
genuineness of his letters to the New York Herald, the 
familiarity of the writer with the poems of Whittier was 
made an argument against him. But Livingstone knew 
a great j:>art of the poetry of Longfellow, Whittier, and 
others by heart. 

There was one drawback to the new locality : it was 
infested with lions. All the world knows the story of 
the encounter at Mabotsa, which % was so near ending 
Livingstone's career, when the lion seized him by the 
shoulder, tore his flesh, and crushed his bone. Nothing 
in all Livingstone's history took more hold of the popular 
imagination, or was more frequently inquired about when 
he came home. 1 By a kind of miracle his life was saved, 
but the encounter left him lame for life of the arm which 
the lion crunched. 2 But the world generally does not 

1 He did not speak of it spontaneously, and sometimes he gave unexpected 
■a to questions put to him about it. To one person who asked very 
earnestly what were his thoughts when the lion was above him, he answered, " I 
was thinking what part of me he would eat first " — a grotesque thought, which 
some persons considered strange in so good a man, but which was quite in accord- 
ance with human experience in similar circumstances. 

- The false joint in the crushed arm was the mark by which the body of 
Livingstone was identified when brought home by his followers in 1874. 



63 DA VID LIVINGSTONE, [chap. iv. 

know that Mebalwe, the native who was with him, and 
who saved his life by diverting the lion when his paw was 
on his head, was the teacher whom Mrs. M 'Robert's 
twelve pounds had enabled him to employ. Little did 
the good woman think that this offering would indirectly 
be the means of preserving the life of Livingstone for 
the wonderful work of the next thirty years ! When, on 
being attacked by Mebalwe, the lion left Livingstone, and 
sprang upon him, he bit his thigh, then dashed towards 
another man, and caught him by the shoulder, when in a 
moment, the previous shots taking effect, he fell down 
dead. Sir Bartle Frere, in his obituary notice of 
Livingstone read to the Royal Geographical Society, 
remarked : " For thirty years afterwards all his labours 
and adventures, entailing such exertion and fatigue, were 
undertaken with a limb so maimed that it was painful for 
him to raise a fowhng-piece, or in fact to place the left 
arm in any position above the level of the shoulder." 

In his Missionary Travels Livingstone says that but 
for the importunities of his friends, he meant to have 
kept this story in store to tell his children in his dotage. 
How little he made of it at the time will be seen from 
the following allusion to it in a letter to his father, dated 
27th April 1844. After telling how the attacks of the 
lions drew the people of Mabotsa away from the irrigating 
operations he was engaged in, he says : — 

" At last, one of the lions destroyed nine sheep in broad daylight 
on a hill just opposite our house. All the people immediately ran 
over to it, and, contrary to my custom, I imprudently went with them, 
in order to see how they acted, and encourage them to destroy him. 
They surrounded him several times, but he managed to break through 
the circle. I then got tired. In coming home I had to come near to 
the end of the hill. They were then close upon the lion, and had 
wounded him. He rushed out from the bushes which concealed him 
from view, and bit me on the arm so as to break the bone. It is now 
nearly well, however, feeling weak only from having been confined in 
one position so long ; and I ought to praise Him who delivered me 
from so great a danger. I hope I shall never forget His mercy. You 



1843-47] FIRST TWO STATIOXS. 69 

need not be sorry for me, for long before this reaches you it will be 
quite as strong as ever it was. Gratitude is the only feeling we ought 
to have in remembering the event. Do not mention this to any one. I 
do not like to be talked about." 

In a letter to the Directors, Livingstone briefly adverts 
to Mebalwe's service on this occasion, but makes it a peg 
on which to hang some strong remarks on that favourite 
topic — the employment of native agency : — 

" Our native assistant Mebahve has been of considerable value to 
the Mission. In endeavouring to save my life he nearly lost his own, 
for he was caught and wounded severely, but both before being laid 
aside, and since his recovery, he has shown great willingness to be 
useful. The cheerful manner in which he engages with us in manual 
labour in the station, and his affectionate addresses to his country- 
men, are truly gratifying. Mr. E. took him to some of the neigh- 
bouring villages lately, in order to introduce him to his work ; and I 
intend to depart to-morrow for the same purpose to several of the 
villages situated north-east of this. In all there may be a dozen con- 
siderable villages situated at convenient distances around us, and we 
each purpose to visit them statedly. It would be an immense advantage 
to the cause had Ave many such agents." 

Another proof that his pleas for native agency, pub- 
lished in some of the Missionary Magazines, were telling 
at home, was the receipt of a contribution for the em- 
ployment of a native helper, amounting to £15, from 
a Sunday-school in Southampton. Touched with this 
proof of youthful sympathy, Livingstone addressed a long 
letter of thanks to the Southampton teachers and 
children, desiring to deepen their interest in the work, 
and concluding with an account of his Sunday-school : — 

" I yesterday commenced school for the first time at Mabotsa, and 
the poor little naked things came with fear and trembling. A native 
teacher assisted, and the chief collected as many of them as he could, 
or I believe we should have had none. The reason is, the women 
make us the hobgoblins of their children, telling them 'these white 
men bite children, feed them with dead men's brains/ and all manner 
of nonsense. We are just commencing our mission among them." 

A new star now appeared in Livingstone's horizon, 
destined to give a brighter complexion to his life, and a 



70 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. iv. 

new illustration to the name Mabotsa. Till this year 
(1844) he had steadily repudiated all thoughts of mar- 
riage, thinking it better to be independent. Nor indeed 
had he met with any one to induce him to change his 
mind. Writing in the end of 1843 to his friend Watt, 
he had said : " There 's no outlet for me when I begin to 
think of getting married but that of sending home an 
advertisement to the Evangelical Magazine, and if I get 
very old, it must be for some decent sort of widow. In 
the meantime I am too busy to think of anything of the 
kind." But soon after the Moffats came back from 
England to Kuruman, their eldest daughter, Mary, 
rapidly effected a revolution in Livingstone's ideas of 
matrimony. They became engaged. In announcing his 
approaching marriage to the Directors, he makes it plain 
that he had carefully considered the bearing which this 
step might have on his usefulness as a missionary. No 
doubt if he had foreseen the very extraordinary work to 
which he was afterwards to be called, he might have 
come to a different conclusion. But now, apparently, he 
was fixed and settled. Mabotsa would become a centre 
from which native missionary agents would radiate over 
a large circumference. His own life-work would resemble 
Mr. Moffat's. For influencing the women and children 
of such a place, a Christian lady was indispensable, and 
who so likely to do it well as one born in Africa, the 
daughter of an eminent and honoured missionary, herself 
familiar with missionary life, and gifted with the win- 
ning manner and the ready helping hand that were so 
peculiarly adapted for this work ? The case was as clear 
as possible, and Livingstone was very happy. 

On his way home from Kuruman, after the engage- 
ment, he writes to her cheerily from Motito, on 1st 
August 1844, chiefly about the household they were soon 
to get up ; asking her to get her father to order some 
necessary articles, and to write to Colesberg about the 



1843-47-] FIRST TWO STATIONS. 71 

marriage-license (and if he did not get it, they would 
license themselves !), and concluding thus :— 

" And now, my dearest, farewell. May God bless you ! Let your 
affection be towards Him much more than towards me; and, kept by 
His mighty power and grace, I hope I shall never give you cause to 
regret that you have given me a part. Whatever friendship we feel 
towards each other, let us always look to Jesus as our common friend 
and guide, and may He shield you with His everlasting arms from 
every evil !" 

Next month he writes from Mabotsa with full accounts 
of the progress of their house, of which he was both 
architect and builder : — 

"Mabotsa, 12th September 1844. — I must tell you of the progress 
I have made in architecture. The walls are nearly finished, although 
the dimensions are 52 feet by 20 outside, or almost the same size as 
the house in which you now reside. I began with stone, but when it 
was breast-high, I was obliged to desist from my purpose to build it 
entirely of that material by an accident, which, slight as it was, put a 
stop to my operations in that line. A stone falling was stupidly, or 
rather instinctively, caught by me in its fall by the left hand, and it 
nearly broke my arm over again. It swelled up again, and I fevered 
so much I was glad of a fire, although the weather was quite warm. 
I expected bursting and discharge, but Baba bound it up nicely, 
and a few days' rest put all to rights. I then commenced my architec- 
ture, and six days have brought the walls up a little more than six 
feet. 

" The walls will be finished long before you receive this, and I 
suppose the roof too, but I have still the wood of the roof to seek. It 
is not, however, far off; and as Mr. E. and I, with the Kuru- 
manites, got on the roof of the school in a week, I hope this will not 
be more than a fortnight or three weeks. Baba has been most useful 
to me in making door and window frames; indeed, if he had not 
turned out I should not have been so far advanced as I am. Mr. 
E.'s finger is the cause in part of my having no aid from him, 
but all will come right at last. It is pretty hard work, and almost 
enough to drive love out of my head, but it is not situated there; Ms 
in my heart, and won't come out unless you behave so as to quench 
it! . . . 

" You must try and get a maid of some sort to come with you, 
although it is only old Moyimang; you can't go without some one, and 
a Makhatla can't be had for cither love or money. . . . 

•• You must excuse soiled paper, my hands won't wash clean after 
dabbling mud all day. And although the above does not contain 



72 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. iv. 

evidence of it, you are as dear to me as ever, and will be as long as 
our lives are spared. — I am still your most affectionate 

" D. Livingston." 

A few weeks later lie writes : — 

"As I am favoured with another opportunity to Kuruman, I 
gladly embrace it, and wish I could embrace you at the same time ; 
but as I cannot, I must do the next best to it, and while I give you 
the good news that our work is making progress, and of course the 
time of our separation becoming beautifully less, I am happy in the 
hope that, by the messenger who now goes, I shall receive the good 
news that you are well and happy, and remembering me with some of 
that affection which we bear to each other. . . . All goes on pretty well 
here ; the school is sometimes well, sometimes ill attended. I begin 
to like it, and I once believed I could never have any pleasure in such 
employment. I had a great objection to school-keeping, but I find in 
that, as in almost everything else I set myself to as a matter of duty, 
I soon became enamoured of it. A boy came three times last week, 
and on the third time could act as monitor to the rest through a great 
portion of the alphabet. He is a real Mokhatla, but I have lost sight 
of him again. If I get them on a little I shall translate some of your 
infant-school hymns into Sichuana rhyme, and you may yet, if you 
have time, teach them the tunes to them. I, poor mortal, am as mute 
as a fish in regard to singing, and Mr. Inglis says I have not a bit of 
imagination. Mebalwe teaches them the alphabet in the ' auld lang 
syne ' tune sometimes, and I heard it sung by some youths in the 
gardens yesterday — a great improvement over their old see-saw tunes 
indeed. Sometimes we have twenty, sometimes two, sometimes none 
at all. 

" Give my love to A., and tell her to be sure to keep my lecture 
warm. She must not be vexed with herself that she was not more 
frank to me. If she is now pleased all is right. I have sisters, and 
know all of you have your failings, but I won't love you less for these. 
And to mother, too, give my kindest salutation. I suppose I shall get 
a lecture from her too about the largeness of the house. If there are 
too many windows she can just let me know. I could build them all 
up in two days, and let the light come down the chimney, if that 
would please. I '11 do anything for peace, except fighting for it. And 
now I must again, my dear, dear Mary, bid you good-bye. Accept 
my expressions as literally true when I say, I am your most affectionate 
and still confiding lover, D. Livingston." 

In due time the marriage was solemnised, and Living- 
stone brought his wife to Mabotsa. Here they went 
vigorously to work, Mrs. Livingstone with her infant-school, 
and her husband with all the varied agencies, medical, 



1843-47] FIRST TWO STATIONS. 73 

educational, and pastoral, which his active spirit could 
bring to bear upon the people. They were a very 
superstitious race, and, among other things, had great 
faith in ram-making. Livingstone had a famous en- 
counter with one of their rain-makers, the effect of 
which was that the pretender was wholly nonplussed; 
but instead of being convinced of the absurdity of their 
belief, the people were rather disposed to think that 
the missionaries did not want them to get rain. Some 
of them were workers in iron, who carried their super- 
stitious notions into that department of life too, believing 
that the iron could be smelted only by the power of 
medicines, and that those who had not the proper 
medicine need not attempt the work. In the hope of 
breaking down these absurdities, Livingstone planned 
a course of popular lectures on the works of God in 
creation and providence, to be carried out in the follow- 
ing way :— 

" I intend to commence with the goodness of God in giving iron 
ore, by giving, if I can, a general knowledge of the simplicity of the 
substance, and endeavouring to disabuse their minds of the idea which 
prevents them, in general, from reaping the benefit of that mineral 
which abounds in their country. I intend, also, to pay more particular 
attention to the children of the few believers we have with us as a 
class, fur whom, as baptized ones, we are bound especially to care. 
May the Lord enable me to fulfil my resolutions ! I have now the 
happy prospect before me of real missionary work. All that has 
led has been preparatory." 

All this time Livingstone had been cherishing his 
plan of a training seminary for native agents. He had 
written a paper and brought the matter before the 
missionaries, but without success. Some opposed the 
scheme fairly, as being premature, while some insinuated 
that his object was to stand well with the Directors, 
and get himself made Professor. This last objection 
induced him to withdraw his proposal. He saw that 
in his mode of prosecuting the matter he had not been 



74 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap, iv 

very knowing ; it would have been better to get some 
of the older brethren to adopt it. He feared that his 
zeal had injured the cause he desired to benefit, and in 
writing to his friend Watt, he said that for months he 
felt bitter grief, and could never think of the subject 
without a pang. 1 

A second time he brought forward his proposal, but 
again without success. Was he then to be beaten ? 
Far 7 from it. He would change his tactics, however. 
He would first set himself to show what could be done 
by native efforts ; he would travel about, wherever he 
found a road, and, after inquiries, settle native agents 
far and wide. The plan had only to be tried, under 
God's blessing, to succeed. Here again we trace the 
Providence that shaped his career. Had his wishes been 
carried into effect, he might have spent his life training 
native agents, and doing undoubtedly a noble work : 
but he would not have traversed Africa ; he would not 
have given its death-blow to African slavery ; he would 
not have closed the open sore of the world, nor rolled 
away the great obstacle to the evangelisation of the 
Continent. 

Some glimpses of his Mabotsa life may be got from 
a letter to his mother (14th May 1845). Usually his 
letters for home were meant for the whole family and 
addressed accordingly ; but with a delicacy of feeling, 
which many will appreciate, he wrote separately to his 
mother after a little experience of married life : — 

" I often think of you, and perhaps more frequently since I got 
married than before. Only yesterday I said to my wife, when I thought 
of the nice clean bed I enjoy now, You put me in mind of my mother ; 
she was always particular about our beds and linen. I had had rough 
times of it before. . . . 

" I cannot perceive that the attentions paid to my father-in-law at 

1 Dr Moffat favoured the scheme of a training seminary, and when he came 
home afterwards, helped to raise a large sum of money for the purpose. He was 
strongly of opinion that the Institution should be built at Scheie's ; but, 
contrary to his view, and that of Livingstone, it has been placed at Kuruman. 



I843-47-] FIRST TWO STATIONS. 75 

home have spoiled him. He is, of course, not the same man lie 
formerly must have been, for lie now knows the standing he has 
among the friends of Christ at home. But the plaudits he received 
have had a bad effect, and tho' not on his mind, yet on that of his 
fellow-labourers. You, perhaps, cannot understand this, but so it is. 
If one man is praised, others think this is more than is deserved, and 
that they too (' others,' they say, while they mean themselves) ought 
to have a share. Perhaps you were gratified to see my letters quoted 
in the Chronicle. In some minds they produced bitter envy, and if it 
were in my power, I should prevent the publication of any in future. 
But all is in the Lord's hands ; on Him I cast my care. His testi- 
mony I receive as it stands — He careth for us. Yes, He does ; for 
He says it who is every way worthy of credit. He will give what is 
good for me. He will see to it that all things work together for good. 
Do thou for me, Lord God Almighty ! May His blessing rest on 
you, my dear mother. . . . 

" I received the box from Mr. D. The clothes are all too wide by 
four inches at least. Does he think that Aldermen grow in Africa % 
Mr. X., too, fell into the same fault, but he will be pleased to know 
his boots will be worn by a much better man — Mr. Moffat. I am not 
an atom thicker than when you saw me. . . . 

" Respecting the mission here, we can say nothing. The people 
have not the smallest love to the gospel of Jesus. They hate and 
fear it, as a revolutionary spirit is disliked by the old Tories. It 
appears to them as that which, if not carefully guarded against, will 
seduce them, and destroy their much-loved domestic institutions. No 
pro-slavery man in the Southern States dreads more the abolition 
principles than do the Bakhatla the innovations of the Word of God. 
Nothing but power Divine can work the mighty change." 

Unhappily Mr. and Mrs. Livingstone's residence at 
Mabotsa was embittered by a painful collision with the 
missionary who had taken part in rearing the station. 
Livingstone was accused of acting unfairly by him, of 
assuming to himself more than his due, and attempts 
were made to discredit him, both among the missionaries 
and the Directors. It was a very painful ordeal, and 
Livingstone felt it keenly. He held the accusation to be 
unjust, as most people will hold it to have been who 
know that one of the charges against him was that he 
;l "nonentity" 1 A tone of indignation pervades his 
is : — that after having borne the heat and burden of 
the day, he should be accused of claiming for himself the 



76 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. iv. 

credit due to one who had done so little in comparison. 
But the noble spirit of Livingstone rose to the occasion. 
Rather than have any scandal before the heathen, he 
would give up his house and garden at Mabotsa, with all 
the toil and money they had cost him, go with his young 
bride to some other place, and begin anew the toil of 
house and school building, and gathering the people 
around him. His colleague was so struck with his 
generosity that he said had he known his intention he 
never would have spoken a word against him. Living- 
stone had spent all his money, and out of a salary 
of a hundred pounds it was not easy to build a house 
every other year. But he stuck to his resolution. 
Parting with his garden evidently cost him a pang, 
especially when he thought of the tasteless hands into 
which it was to fall. " I like a garden," he wrote, " but 
Paradise will make amends for all our privations and 
sorrows here." Self-denial was a firmly-established habit 
with him ; and the passion of " moving on " was warm 
in his blood. Mabotsa did not thrive after Livingstone 
left it, but the brother with whom he had the difference 
lived to manifest a very different spirit. 

In some of his journeys, Livingstone had come into 
close contact with the tribe of the Bakwains, which, on 
the murder of their chief, some time before, had been 
divided into two, one part under Bubi, already referred 
to, and the other under Sechele, son of the murdered 
chief, also already introduced. Both of these chiefs had 
shown much regard for Livingstone, and on the death of 
Bubi, Sechele and his people indicated a strong wish that 
a missionary should reside among them. On leaving 
Mabotsa, Livingstone transferred his services to this 
tribe. The name of the new station was Chonuane ; it 
was situated some forty miles from Mabotsa, and in 1846 
it became the centre of Livingstone's operations among 
the Bakwains and their chief Sechele. 



1843-47] FIRST TWO STAT/OXS. 77 

Livingstone had been disappointed with the result of 
his work among the Bakhatlas. No doubt much good 
had been done ; he had prevented several wars ; but 
where were the conversions ? l On leaving he found that 
he had made more impression on them than he had 
supposed. They were most unwilling to lose him, 
offered to do anything in their power for his comfort, 
and even when his oxen were "inspanned" and he was 
on the point of moving, they offered to build a new house 
without expense to him in some other place, if only he 
would not leave them. In a financial point of view, the 
removal to Chonuane was a serious undertaking. He 
had to apply to the Directors at home for a building- 
. grant — only thirty pounds, but there were not wanting 
objectors even to that small sum. It was only in self- 
vindication that he was constrained to tell of the hard- 
ships which his family had borne : — 

" AVe endured for a long while, using a wretched infusion of native 
corn for coffee, but when our corn was done, we were fairly obliged to 
go to Kuruman for supplies. I can bear what other Europeans would 
consider hunger and thirst without any inconvenience, but when we 
arrived, to hear the old women who had seen my wife depart about 
two years before, exclaiming before the door, ' Bless me ! how lean 
she is ! Has he starved her 1 Is there no food in the country to 
which she has been ] ' was more than I could well bear." 

From the first, Sechele showed an intelligent interest 
in Livingstone's preaching. He became a great reader, 
especially of the Bible, and lamented very bitterly that 

1 When some of Livingstone's "new light" friends heard that there were so 
few conversions, they seem to have thought that ho was too much of an old 
Calvini.st, and wrote to him to preach that the remedy was as extensive as the 
i — Christ loved you, and gave himself for you. "You may think me 
heretical," replied he, "hut we don't need to make the extent of the atone- 
ment the main topic of our preaching. We preach to men who don't know but 
they are heasts, who have no idea of God as a personal agent, or of sin as evil, 
otherwi.se than as an offence against each other, which may or may not he punished 
by the party offended. . . . Their consciences are seared, and mora] perceptions 
blunted. Their memories retain scarcely anything we teach them, and bo low 
have they sunk that the plainest text in the whole Bible cannot he understood 
by them." 



78 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. iv. 

he had got involved in heathen customs, and now did 
not know what to do with his wives. At one time he 
expressed himself quite willing to convert all his people 
to Christianity by the litupa, i.e. whips of rhinoceros 
hide ; but when he came to understand better, he 
lamented that while he could make his people do any- 
thing else he liked, he could not get one of them to 
believe. He began family worship, and Livingstone was 
surprised to hear how well he conducted prayer in his 
own simple and beautiful style. When he was baptized, 
after a profession of three years, he sent away his 
superfluous wives in a kindly and generous way ; but all 
their connections became active and bitter enemies of 
the gospel, and the conversion of Sechele, instead of 
increasing the congregation, reduced it so much that 
sometimes the chief and his family were almost the only 
persons present. A bell-man of a somewhat peculiar 
order was once employed to collect the people for service, 
— a tall gaunt fellow. " Up he jumped on a sort of plat- 
form, and shouted at the top of his voice, ' Knock that 
woman down over there. Strike her, she is putting on 
her pot ! Do you see that one hiding herself ? Give her 
a good blow. There she is — see, see, knock her down !' 
All the women ran to the place of meeting in no time, 
for each thought herself meant. But, though a most 
efficient bell-man, we did not like to employ him." 

While residing at Chonuane, Livingstone performed 
two journeys eastward, in order to attempt the removal 
of certain obstacles to the establishment of at least one 
of his native teachers in that direction. This brought 
him into connection with the Dutch Boers of the Cashan 
mountains, otherwise called Magaliesberg. The Boers 
were emigrants from the Cape, who had been dissatisfied 
with the British rule, and especially with the emancipa- 
tion of their Hottentot slaves, and had created for them- 
selves a republic in the north (the Transvaal), in order 



1843-47] FIRST TWO STATIONS. 79 

that they might pursue, unmolested, the proper treatment 
of the blacks. " It is almost needless to add," says 
Livingstone, " that proper treatment has always contained 
in it the essential element of slavery, viz. compulsory 
unpaid labour." The Boers had effected the expulsion 
of Mosilikatse, a savage Zulu warrior, and in return for 
this service they considered themselves sole masters of 
the soil. While still eno-a,o;ed in the erection of his 
dwelling-house at Chonuane, Livingstone received notes 
from the Commandant and Council of the emigrants, 
requesting an explanation of his intentions, and an 
intimation that they had resolved to come and deprive 
Sechele of his fire-arms. About the same time he received 
several very friendly messages and presents from Mo- 
khatla, chief of a large section of the Bakhatla, who 
lived about four days eastward of his station, and had 
once, while Livingstone was absent, paid a visit to Chon- 
uane, and expressed satisfaction with the idea of obtain- 
ing Paul, a native convert, as his teacher. As soon as 
his house was habitable, Livingstone proceeded to the 
eastward, to visit Mokhatla, and to confer with the 
Boers. 

On his way to Mokhatla he was surprised at the 
unusual density of the population, giving him the 
opportunity of preaching the gospel at least once every 
(lav. The chief, Mokhatla, whose people were quiet 
and industrious, was eager to get a missionary, but 
said that an arrangement must be made with the Dutch 
commandant. This involved some delay. 

Livingstone then returned to Chonuane, finished the 
erection of a school there, and setting systematic instruc- 
tion fairly in operation under Paul and his son, Isaac, 
again went eastwards, accompanied this time by Mrs, 
Livingstone and their infant son, Robert Moffat 1 — all the 

1 He wrote to hifl father that lie would have called him Neil, if it had not been 
such an ugly name, and all the people would have called him Ua-Xeeley ! 



So DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. iv. 

three being in indifferent health. Mebalwe the catechist 
was also with them. Taking a different route they came 
on another Bakhatla tribe, whose country abounded in 
metallic ores, and who, besides cultivating their fields, 
span cotton, smelted iron, copper, and tin, made an alloy 
of tin and copper, and manufactured ornaments. Living- 
stone had constantly an eye to the industries and com- 
mercial capabilities of the countries he passed through. 
Social reform was certainly much needed here; for the 
chief, though not twenty years of age, had already forty- 
eight wives and twenty children. They heard of another 
tribe, said to excel all others in manufacturing skill, and 
having the honourable distinction, " they had never been 
known to kill any one." This lily among thorns they were 
unable to visit. Three tribes of Bakhalaka whom they 
did visit were at continual war. 

Deriving his information from the Boers themselves, 
Livingstone learned that they had taken possession of 
nearly all the fountains, so that the natives lived in the 
country only by sufferance. The chiefs were compelled 
to furnish the emigrants with as much free labour as 
they required. This was in return for the privilege of 
living in the country of the Boers ! The absence of law 
left the natives open to innumerable wrongs which the 
better-disposed of the emigrants lamented, but could 
not prevent. Livingstone found that the forcible seizure 
of cattle was a common occurrence, but another custom 
was even worse. When at war, the Dutch forced natives 
to assist them, and sent them before them into battle, to 
encounter the battle-axes of their opponents, while the 
Dutch fired in safety at their enemies over the heads of 
their native allies. Of course all the disasters of the war 
fell on the natives ; the Dutch had only the glory and 
the spoil. Such treatment of the natives burned into 
the very soul of Livingstone. He was specially distressed 
at the purpose expressed to pick a quarrel with Sechele, 



1S45-47] FIRST TWO STATJONS. Si 

for whatever the emigrants might say of other tribes, 
they could not but admit that the Bechuanas had been 
always an honest and peaceable people. 

When Livingstone met the Dutch commandant he 
received favourably his proposal of a native missionary, 
but another obstacle arose. Near the proposed station 
lived a Dutch emigrant who had shown himself the 
inveterate enemy of missions. He had not scrupled to 
say that the proper way to treat any native missionary 
was to kill him. Livingstone w r as unwilling to plant 
Mebalwe beside so bloodthirsty a neighbour, and as he 
had not time to go to him, and try to bring him to a 
better mind, and there was plenty of work to be done at 
the station, they all returned to Chonuane. 

"We have now," says Livingstone (March 1847), 
" been a little more than a year with the Bak wains. No 
conversions have taken place, but real progress has been 
made." He adverts to the way in which the Sabbath 
was observed, no work being done by the natives in the 
gardens on that day, and hunting being suspended. 
Their superstitious belief in rain-making had got a blow. 
There was a real desire for knowledge, though hindered 
by the prevailing famine caused by the want of rain. 
There was also a general impression among the people 
that the missionaries were their friends. But civilisation 
apart from conversion would be but a poor recompence 
for their labour. 

But, whatever success might attend their work among 
the Bakwains, Livingstone's soul was soaring beyond 
them : — 

" I am more and more convinced," he writes to the Directors, " that 
in ordei to the permanent settlement of tin- gospel in any part, the 
natives must be taught to relinquish their reliance on Europe. An 
onward movement ought to be made whether men will hear or 
whether they will forbear. I tell my Bakwains that if spared ten 
. I Bhall move on to regions beyond them. If our missions 
would move onwards now to those regions I have lately visited, they 

F 



82 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. iv. 

would in all probability prevent the natives settling into that state of 
determined hatred to all Europeans which I fear now characterises most 
of the Caffres near the Colony. If natives are not elevated by contact 
with Europeans, they are sure to be deteriorated. It is with pain I 
have observed that all the tribes I have lately seen are undergoing the 
latter process. The country is fine. It abounds in streams, and has 
many considerable rivers. The Boers hate missionaries, but by a kind 
and prudent course of conduct, one can easily manage them. Medi- 
cines are eagerly received, and I intend to procure a supply of Dutch 
tracts for distribution among them. The natives who have been in 
subjection to Mosilikatse place unbounded confidence in missionaries." 

In his letters to friends at home, whatever topic 
Livingstone may touch, we see evidence of one over- 
mastering idea— the vastness of Africa, and the duty of 
beginning a new era of enterprise to reach its people. 
Among his friends the Scotch Congregationalists, there 
had been a keen controversy on some points of Calvinism. 
Livingstone did not like it ; he was not a high Calvinist 
theoretically, yet he could not accept the new views, 
"from a secret feeling of being absolutely at the divine 
disposal as a sinner;" but these were theoretical questions, 
and with dark Africa around him, he did not see why 
the brethren at home should split on them. Missionary 
influence in South Africa was directed in a wrong 
channel. There were three times too many missionaries 
in the colony, and vast regions beyond lay untouched. 
He wrote to Mr. Watt : "If you meet me down in the 
colony before eight years are expired, you may shoot 
me." 

Of his employments and studies he gives the fol- 
lowing account : "I get the Evangelical, Scottish 
Congregational, Eclectic, Lancet, British and Foreign 
Medical Revieiv. I can read in journeying, but little at 
home. Building, gardening, cobbling, doctoring, tinkering, 
carpentering, gun-mending, farriering, wagon- mending, 
preaching, schooling, lecturing on physics according to 
my means, beside a chair in divinity to a class of three, 
fill up my time." 



iS 4 3-47-] FIRST TWO STATJOXS. S3 

With all his other work, he was still enthusiastic in 
science. " I have written Professor Buckland," he says to 
Mr. Watt (May 1845), "and sent him specimens too, but 
have not received any answer. I have a great lot by me 
now. I don't know whether he received my letter or 
not. Could you ascertain ? I am trying to procure 
specimens of the entire geology of this region, and will 
try and make a sort of chart. I am taking double 
specimens now, so that if one part is lost, I can send 
another. The great difficulty is transmission. I sent a 
dissertation on the decrease of water in Africa. Call on 
Professor Owen and ask if he wants anything in the 
four jars I still possess, of either rhinoceros, camelopard, 
etc. etc. If he wants these, or anything else these jars 
will hold, he must send me more jars and spirits of wine." 

He afterwards heard of the fate of one of the boxes of 
specimens he had sent home — that which contained the 
fossils of Bootchap. It was lost on the railway after 
reaching England, in custody of a friend. " The thief 
thought the box contained bullion, no doubt. You may 
think of one of the faces in Punch as that of the 
scoundrel, when he found in the box a lot of l chucky- 
stanes.'" He had got many nocturnal-feeding animals, 
but the heat made it very difficult to preserve them. 
Many valuable seeds he had sent to Calcutta, with the 
nuts of the desert, but had heard nothing of them. He 
had lately got knowledge of a root to which the same 
virtues were attached as to ergot of rye. He tells his 
friend about the tsetse, the fever, the north wind, and 
other African notabilia. These and many other interest- 
ing points of information are followed up by the signifi- 
cant question — 

" Who will penetrate tiikoucui Africa ?" 



8 4 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. v. 



CHAPTER V. 

THIRD STATION — KOLOBENG. 

A.D. 1847-1852. 

Want of rain at Chonuane — Removal to Kolobeng — House -building and public 
works— Hopeful prospects — Letters to Mr. Watt, his sister, and Dr. Bennett 
— The church at Kolobeng — Pure communion — Conversion of Sechele — Letter 
from his brother Charles — His history — Livingstone's relations with the Boers 
— He cannot get native teachers planted in the east — Resolves to explore 
northwards — Extracts from Journal — Scarcity of water — Wild animals and 
other risks — Custom-house robberies and annoyances — Visit from Secretary of 
London Missionary Society — Manifold employments of Livingstone — Studies 
in Sichuana — His reflection on this period of his life while detained at Man- 
yuema in 1870. 

The residence of the Livingstones at Chonuane was of 
short continuance. The want of rain was fatal to agri- 
culture, and about equally fatal to the mission. It was 
necessary to remove to a neighbourhood where water 
could be obtained. The new locality chosen was on the 
banks of the river Kolobeng, about forty miles distant 
from Chonuane. In a letter to the Royal Geographical 
Society, his early and warm friend and fellow-traveller, 
Mr. Oswell, thus describes Kolobeng : " The town stands 
in naked deformity on the side of and under a ridge of 
red ironstone; the mission-house on a little rocky eminence 
over the river Kolobeng." Livingstone had pointed out 
to the chief that the only feasible way of watering the 
gardens was to select some good never-failing river, make 
a canal, and irrigate the adjacent lands. The wonderful 
influence which he had acquired was apparent from the 
fact that the very morning after he told them of his 
intention to move to the Kolobeng, the wh6le tribe was 



I847-5*-] THIRD STATION. 85 

in motion for the " flitting." Livingstone had to set to 
work at his old business — building a house — the third 
which he had reared with his own hands. It was a mere 
hut — for a permanent house he had to wait a year. The 
natives, of course, had their huts to rear and their gardens 
to prepare ; but, besides this, Livingstone set them to 
public works. For irrigating their gardens, a dam had 
to be dug and a water- course scooped out ; sixty-five of 
the younger men dug the dam, and forty of the older 
made the water-course. The erection of the school was 
undertaken by the chief Sechele : "I desire," he said, 
" to build a house for God, the defender of my town, 
and that you be at no expense for it whatever." Two 
hundred of his people were employed in this work. 

Livingstone had hardly had time to forget his building 
troubles at Mabotsa and Chonuane, when he began this 
new enterprise. But he was in much better spirits, much 
more hopeful than he had been. Writing to Mr. Watt 
on 13th February 1848, he says : — 

" All our meetings are good compared to those we had at Mabotsa, 
and some of them admit of no comparison whatever. Ever since we 
moved, we have been incessantly engaged in manual labour. AVe have 
endeavoured, as far as possible, to carry on systematic instruction at the 

same time, but have felt it very hard pressure on our energies 

Our daily labours are in the following sort of order : — 

" We get up as soon as we can, generally with the sun in summer, 
then have family worship, breakfast, and school; and as soon as these 
are over we begin the manual operations needed, sowing, ploughing, 
smithy work, and every other sort of work by turns as required. My 
better-half is employed all the morning in culinary or other work ; and 
feeling pretty well tired by dinner-time, we take about two hours' rest 
bheu : but more frequently, without the respite I try to secure for 
in] ->elf, she goes off to hold infant-school, and this, I am happy to say, 
La vny popular with the youngsters. She sometimes has eighty, but 
the average may be sixty. My manual labours are continued till 
about five o'clock. I then go into the town to give lessons and talk to 
any one who may be disposed for it. As soon as the cows are milked 
we hav»- a meeting, and this is followed by a prayer-meeting in 
Sechede'a house, which brings me borne about half-past eight, and 
generally tired enough, too fatigued to think of any mental exertion. 



SS DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [ CHAP - v - 

I do not enumerate these duties by way of telling how much we do, 
but to let you know a cause of sorrow I have that so little of my time 
is devoted to real missionary work." 

First there was a temporary house to be built, then a 
permanent one, and Livingstone was not exempted from 
the casualties of mechanics. Once he found himself 
dangling from a beam by his weak arm. Another time 
he had a fall from the roof. A third time he cut himself 
severely with an axe. Working on the roof in the sun, 
his lips got all scabbed and broken. If he mentions such 
things to Dr. Bennett or other friend, it is either in the 
way of illustrating some medical point or to explain how 
he had never found time to take the latitude of his station 
till he was stopped working by one of these accidents. At 
best it was weary work. " Two days ago," he writes to his 
sister Janet (5th July 1848), "we entered our new house. 
What a mercy to be in a house again ! A year in a little 
hut through which the wind blew our candles into 
glorious icicles (as a poet would say) by night, and in 
which crowds of flies continually settled on the eyes of 
our poor little brats by day, makes us value our present 
castle. Oh, Janet, know thou, if thou art given to build- 
ing castles in the air, that that is easy work to erecting 
cottages on the ground/' He could not quite forget that 
it was unfair treatment that had driven him from 
Mabotsa, and involved him in these labours. " I often 
think," he writes to Dr. Bennett, " I have forgiven, as I 
hope to be forgiven ; but the remembrance of slander 
often comes boiling up, although I hate to think of it. 
You must remember me in your prayers that more of the 
spirit of Christ may be imparted to me. All my plans of 
mental culture have been broken through by manual 
labour. I shall soon, however, be obliged to give my son 
and daughter a jog along the path to learning. . . . 
Your family increases very fast, and I fear we follow in 
your wake. I cannot realise the idea of your sitting with 



1847-52.] THIRD STATIOX. 87 

four around you, and I can scarcely believe myself to be 
so far advanced as to be the father of two." 

Livingstone never expected the work of real Chris- 
tianity to advance rapidly among the Bakwains. They 
were a slow people and took long to move. But it was 
not his desire to have a large church of nominal ad- 
herents. " Nothing," he writes, "will induce me to form 
an impure church. Fifty added to the church sounds 
fine at home, but if only five of these are genuine, what 
will it profit in the Great Day ? I have felt more than 
ever lately that the great object of our exertions ought to 
be conversion." There was no subject on which Living- 
stone had stronger feelings than on purity of communion. 
For two whole years he allowed no dispensation of the 
Lord s Supper, because he did not deem the professing 
Christians to be living consistently. Here was a crowning 
proof of his hatred of all sham and false pretence, and 
his intense love of solid, thorough, finished work. 

Hardly were things begun to be settled at Kolobeng 
when, by way of relaxation, Livingstone (January 1848) 
again moved eastwards. He would have gone sooner, but 
" a mad sort of Scotchman," 1 having wandered past them 
shooting elephants, and lost all his cattle by the bite of 
the tsetse-fly, Livingstone had to go to his help ; and 
moreover the dam, having burst, required to be repaired. 
Sechele set out to accompany him, and intended to go 
with him the whole way; but some friends having come 
to visit liis tribe, he had to return, or at least did return, 
leaving Livingstone four gallons of porridge, and two 
servants to act in his stead. " He is about the only 
individual," says Livingstone, " who possesses distinct 
consistent views on the subject of our mission. He is 
bound by his wives : has a curious idea — would like to go 
to another country for three or four years in order to 
study, with the hope that probably his wives would have 
1 Mr. Gordon Cumming. 



88 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. v. 

married others in the meantime. He would then return, 
and be admitted to the Lord's Supper, and teach his 
people the knowledge he has acquired. He seems in- 
capable of putting them away. He feels so attached to 
them, and indeed we too feel much attached to most 
of them. They are our best scholars, our constant friends. 
We earnestly pray that they too may be enlightened by 
the Spirit of God." 

The prayer regarding Sechele was answered soon. 
Reviewing the year 1848 in a letter to the Directors, 
Livingstone says : " An event that excited more open 
enmity than any other was the profession of faith and 
subsequent reception of the chief into the church." 

During the first years at Kolobeng, he received a long 
letter from his younger brother Charles, then in the 
United States, requesting him to use his influence with 
the London Missionary Society that he might be sent as 
a missionary to China. In writing to the Directors about 
his brother, in reply to this request, Livingstone dis- 
claimed all idea of influencing them except in so far as he 
might be able to tell them facts. His brother's history 
was very interesting. In 1839, when David Livingstone 
was in England, Charles became earnest about religion, 
influenced partly by the thought that as his brother, to 
whom he was most warmly attached, was going abroad, 
he might never see him again in this world, and therefore 
he would prepare to meet him in the next. A strong 
desire sprang up in his mind to obtain a liberal edu- 
cation. Not having the means to get this at home, he 
was advised by David to go to America, and endeavour 
to obtain admission to one of the Colleges there where 
the students support themselves by manual labour. To 
help him in this, David sent him five pounds, which he 
had just received from the Society, being the whole of 
his quarter's allowance in London. On landing at New 
York, after selling his box and bed, Charles found his 



1847-5*-] THIRD STATION. 89 

whole stock of cash to amount to £2, 13s. 6d. Purchasing 
a loaf and a piece of cheese as viaticum, he started for 
a College at Oberlin, seven hundred miles off, where 
Dr. Finney was President. He contrived to get to the 
College without having ever begged. In the third year 
he entered on the theological course, with the view of 
becoming a missionary. He did not wish, and could never 
agree, as a missionary, to hold an appointment from 
an American Society, on account of the relation of the 
American Churches to slavery ; therefore he applied to 
the London Missionary Society. David had suggested 
to his father that if Charles was to be a missionary, 
he ought to direct his attention to China. Livingstone's 
first missionary love had not become cold, and much 
though he might have wished to have his brother in 
Africa, he acted consistently on his old conviction that 
there were enough of English missionaries there, and 
that China had much more need. 

The Directors declined to appoint Charles Livingstone 
without a personal visit, which he could not afford to 
make. This circumstance led him to accept a pastorate in 
New England, where he remained until 1857, when he 
came to this country and joined his brother in the Zam- 
besi Expedition. Afterwards he was appointed H. M. 
Consul at Fernando Po, but being always delicate, he 
succumbed to the climate of the country, and died a few 
months after his brother, on his way home, in October 
1-7:). Sir Bartle Frere, as President of the Royal 
Geographical Society, paid a deserved tribute to his 
affectionate and earnest nature, his consistent Christian 
life, and his valuable help to Christian missions and the 
African cause generally. 1 

Livingstone's relations with the Boers did not im- 

He has gone so fully into this subject in his 

Missionary Travels that a very slight reference to it is all 

J Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, 1S74, p. cxxviii. 



qo DA FID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. v. 

that is needed here. It was at first very difficult for him 
to comprehend how the most flagrant injustice and in- 
humanity to the black race could be combined, as he 
found it to be, with kindness and general respectability, 
and even with the profession of piety. He only came to 
comprehend this when, after more experience, he under- 
stood the demoralisation which the slave-system produces. 
It was necessary for the Boers to possess themselves of 
children for . servants, and believing or fancying that in 
some tribe an insurrection was plotting, they would fall 
on that tribe and bring off a number of the children. 
The most foul massacres were justified on the ground that 
they were necessary to subdue the troublesome tendencies 
of the people, and therefore essential to permanent peace. 
Livingstone felt keenly that the Boers who came to live 
among the Bakwains made no distinction between them 
and the Caffres, although the Bechuanas were noted for 
honesty, and never attacked either Boers or English. 
On the principle of elevating vague rumours into alarm- 
ing facts, the Boers of the Cashan Mountains, having 
heard that Sechele was possessed of fire-arms (the number 
of his muskets was five !) multiplied the number by a 
hundred, and threatened him with an invasion. Living- 
stone, who was accused of supplying these arms, went to 
the Commandant Krieger, and prevailed upon him to 
defer the expedition, but refused point-blank to comply 
with Krieger' s wish that he should act as a spy on the 
Bakwains. Threatening messages continued to be sent to 
Sechele, ordering him to surrender himself, and to pre- 
vent English traders from passing through his country, 
or selling fire-arms to his people. On one occasion 
Livingstone was told by Mr. Potgeiter, a leading Dutch- 
man, that he would attack any tribe that might receive a 
native teacher. Livingstone was so thoroughly identified 
with the natives that it became the desire of the colonists 
to get rid of him and all his belongings, and complaints 



1847-52.] THIRD STATION. 91 

were made of him to the Colonial Government as a 
dangerous person that ought not to be let alone. 

All this made it very clear to Livingstone that his 
favourite plan of planting native teachers to the eastward 
could not be carried into effect, at least for the present. 
His disappointment in this was only another link in 
the chain of causes that gave to the latter part of his life 
so unlooked-for but glorious a destination. It set him to 
inquire whether in some other direction he might not 
rind a sphere for planting native teachers which the 
jealousy of the Boers prevented in the east. 

Before we set out with him on the northward journeys, 
to which he was led partly by the hostility of the Boers 
in the east, and partly by the very distressing failure of 
rain at Kolobeng, a few extracts may be given from a 
record of the j)eriod entitled " A portion of a Journal lost 
in the destruction of Kolobeng (September 1853) by the 
Boers of Pretorius." Livingstone appears to have kept 
journals from an early period of his life with characteristic 
care and neatness ; but that ruthless and most atrocious 
raid of the Boers, which we shall have to notice hereafter, 
deprived him of all of them up to that date. The treat- 
ment of his books on that occasion was one of the most 
exasperating of his trials. Had they been burned or 
carried off he would have minded it less ; but it was un- 
speakably provoking to hear of them lying about with 
handfuls of leaves torn out of them, or otherwise mutilated 
and destroyed. From the wreck of his journals the only 
part saved was a few pages containing notes of some 
occurrences in 1848-49 : — 

"May 20, 1848. — Spoke to Sechele of the evil of trusting in medi- 

instead of God. He felt afraid to dispute on the subject, and 

said In- would give up all medicine if I only told him to do so. I was 

gratified to see symptoms of tender conscience. May God enlighten 

him : 

"July \()th. — Entered new house on 4th curt. A great mercy. 
Hope it may be more a house of prayer than any we have yet inhabited. 



92 DA VI D LIVINGSTONE. [chap. v. 

" Sunday, August 6.— Sechele remained as a spectator at the cele- 
bration of the Lord's Supper, and when we retired he asked me how 
he ought to act with reference to his superfluous wives, as he 
greatly desired to conform to the will of Christ, be baptized, and 
observe His ordinances. Advised him to do according to what 
he saw written in God's Book, but to treat them gently, for they 
had sinned in ignorance, and if driven away hastily might be lost 
eternally. 

"Sept. 1. — Much opposition, but none manifested to us as indi- 
viduals. Some, however, say it was a pity the lion did not kill me at 
Mabotsa. They curse the chief (Sechele) with very bitter curses, and 
these come from the mouths of those whom Sechele would formerly 
have destroyed for a single disrespectful word. The truth will, by the 
aid of the Spirit of God, ultimately prevail. 

" Oct. 1. — Sechele baptized; also Setefano. 

" Nov. — Long for rains. Everything languishes during the intense 
heat ; and successive droughts having only occurred since the Gospel 
came to the Bak wains, I fear the effect will be detrimental. There is 
abundance of rain all around us. And yet we, who have our chief 
at our head in attachment to the gospel, receive not a drop. Has 
Satan power over the course of the winds and clouds % Feel afraid 
he will obtain an advantage over us, but must be resigned entirely to 
the Divine will. 

"Nov. 27. — Devil! Prince of the power of the air, art thou 
hindering us 1 Greater is He who is for us than all who can be against 
us. I intend to proceed with Paul to Mokhatla's. He feels much 
pleased with the prospect of forming a new station. May God 
Almighty bless the poor unworthy effort ! Mebalwe's house finished. 
Preparing woodwork for Paul's house. 

" Dec. 1 6. — Passed by invitation to Hendrick Potgeiter. Opposed 

to building a school Told him if he hindered the Gospel the 

blood of these people would be required at his hand. He became 
much excited at this. 

"Dec. 17. — Met Dr. Eobertson of Swellendam. Very friendly. 

Boers very violently opposed Went to Pilanies. Had large 

attentive audiences at two villages when on the way home. Paul and 
I looked for a ford in a dry river. Found we had got a she black 
rhinoceros between us and the wagon, which was only twenty yards 
off. She had calved during the night — a little red beast like a dog. 
She charged the wagon, split a spoke and a felloe with her horn, and 
then left. Paul and I jumped into a rut as the guns were in the 
wagon." 

The black rhinoceros is one of the most dangerous of 
the wild beasts of Africa, and travellers stand in great 
awe of it. The courage of Dr. Livingstone in exposing 



1847-52.] THIRD STATION. 93 

himself to the risk of such animals on this missionary 
tour was none the less that he himself says not a word 
regarding it ; but such courage was constantly shown by 
him. The following instances are given on the authority 
of Dr. Moffat as samples of what was habitual to Dr. 
Livingstone in the performance of his duty. 

In going through a wood, a party of hunters were 
startled by the appearance of a black rhinoceros. The 
furious beast dashed at the wagon, and drove his horn 
into the bowels of the driver, inflicting a frightful wound. 
A messenger was despatched in the greatest haste for 
Dr. Livingstone, whose house was eight or ten miles 
distant. The messenger in his eagerness ran the 
whole way. Livingstone's friends were horror-struck at 
the idea of his riding through that wood at night, exposed 
to the rhinoceros and other deadly beasts. " No, no ; 
you must not think of it, Livingstone ; it is certain 
death." Livingstone believed it was a Christian duty to 
try to save the poor fellow's life, and he resolved to go, 
happen what might. Mounting his horse, he rode to 
the scene of the accident. The man had died, and the 
wagon had left, so that there was nothing for Living- 
stone but to return and run the risk of the forest anew, 
without even the hope that he might be useful in saving 
life. 

Another time, when he and a brother missionary 
were on a tour a long way from home, a messenger 
came to tell his companion, that one of his children was 
alarmingly ill. It was but natural for him to desire 
Livingstone to go back with him. The way lay over a 
road infested by lions. Livingstone's life would be in 
danger; moreover, as we have seen, he was intensely 
desirous to examine the fossil bones at the place. But 
when his friend expressed the desire for him to go, he 
went without hesitation. His firm belief in Providence 
sustained him in these as in so many other dangers. 



94 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. v. 

Medical practice was certainly not made easier by 
what happened to some of his packages from England. 
Writing to his father-in-law, Mr. Moffat (18th January 
1849), he says : — 

" Most of our boxes which come to us from England are opened, 
and usually lightened of their contents. You will perhaps remember 
one in which Sech6le's cloak was. It contained, on leaving Glasgow, 
besides the articles which came here, a parcel of surgical instruments 
which I ordered, and of course paid for. One of these was a valuable 
cupping apparatus. The value at which the instruments were pur- 
chased for me was £4, 12s., their real value much more. 

" The box which you kindly packed for us and despatched to 
Glasgow has, we hear, been gutted by the Custom-House thieves, and 
only a very few plain karosses left in it. When we see a box which 
has been opened we have not half the pleasure which we otherwise 
should in unpacking it. . . . Can you give me any information how 
these annoyances may be prevented ] Or must we submit to it as one 
of the crooked things of this life, which Solomon says cannot be made 
straight V' 

Not only in these scenes of active missionary labour, 
but everywhere else, Livingstone was in the habit of 
preaching to the natives, and conversing seriously with 
them on religion, his favourite topics being the love of 
Christ, the Fatherhood of God, the resurrection, and the 
last judgment. His preaching to them, in Dr. Moffat's 
judgment, was highly effective. It was simple, scrip- 
tural, conversational, went straight to the point, was well 
fitted to arrest the attention, and remarkably adapted to 
the capacity of the people. To his father he writes (5th 
July 1848) : " For a long time I felt much depressed after 
preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ to apparently 
insensible hearts ; but now I like to dwell on the love of 
the great Mediator, for it always warms my own heart, 
and I know that the gospel is the power of God — the 
great means which He employs for the regeneration of 
our ruined world." 

In the beginning of 1849 Livingstone made the first 
of a series of journeys to the north, in the hope of 
planting native missionaries among the people. Not to 



1847-52.] THIRD STATION. 95 

interrupt the continuous account of these journeys, we 
mav advert here to a visit paid to him at Kolobeng, on 
his return from the first of them, in the end of the year, 
by Mr. Freeman of the London Missionary Society, who 
was at that time visiting the African stations. Mr. 
Freeman, to Livingstone's regret, was in favour of keep- 
ing up all the Colonial stations, because the London 
Society alone paid attention to the black population. He 
was not much in sympathy with Livingstone. 

"Mr. Freeman," lie writes confidentially to Mr. Watt, "gave us 
no hope to expect any new field to be taken up. ' Expenditure to be 
reduced in Africa' was the word, when I proposed the new region 
beyond us, and there is nobody willing to go except Mr. Moffat and 
myself. Six hundred miles additional land-carriage, mosquitos in 
myriads, sparrows by the million, an epidemic frequently fatal, don't 
look well in a picture. I am 270 miles from Kuruman ; land-carriage for 
all that we use makes a fearful inroad into the £100 of salary, and then 
GOO miles beyond this makes one think unutterable things, for nobody 
likes to call for more salary. I think the Indian salary ought to be 
given to those who go into the tropics. I have a very strong desire 
to go and reduce the new language to writing, but I cannot perform 
impossibilities. I don't think it quite fair for the Churches to expect 
their messenger to live, as if he were the Prodigal Son, on the husks 
that the swine do eat, but I should be ashamed to say so to any one 
but yourself." 

" I cannot perform impossibilities," said Livingstone ; 
but few men could come so near doing it. His activity 
of mind and body at this outskirt of civilisation was 
wonderful. A Jack-of-all-trades, he is building houses 
and schools, cultivating gardens, scheming in every 
manner of way how to get water, which in the remark- 
able drought of the season becomes scarcer and scarcer ; 
as a missionary he is holding meetings every other night, 
preaching on Sundays, and taking such other oppor- 
tunities as he can find to gain the people to Christ ; as a 
medical man he is dealing with the more difficult cases 
of disease, those which baffle the native doctors ; as a 
man of science he is taking observations, collecting speci- 
mens, thinking out geographical, geological, meteoro- 



96 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. v. 

logical, and other problems bearing on the structure and 
condition of the continent ; as a missionary statesman he 
is planning how the actual force might be disposed of to 
most advantage, and is looking round in this direction 
and in that, over hundreds of miles, for openings for 
native agents ; and to promote these objects he is writing 
long letters to the Directors, to the Missionary Chronicle, 
to the British Banner, to private friends, to any one 
likely to take an interest in his plans. 

But this does not exhaust his labours. He is deeply 
interested in philological studies, and is writing on the 
Sichuana language : — 

" I have been hatching a grammar of the Sichuana language," he 
writes to Mr. Watt. " It is different in structure from any other lan- 
guage, except the ancient Egyptian. Most of the changes are effected by 
means of prefixes or affixes, the radical remaining unchanged. Attempts 
have been made to form grammars, but all have gone on the principle 
of establishing a resemblance between Sichuana, Latin, and Greek; 
mine is on the principle of analysing the language without reference 
to any others. Grammatical terms are only used when I cannot 
express my meaning in any other way. The analysis renders the 
whole language very simple, and I believe the principle elicited 
extends to most of the languages between this and Egypt. I wish to 
know whether I could get 20 or 30 copies printed for private distri- 
bution at an expense not beyond my means. It would be a mere 
tract, and about the size of this letter when folded, 40 or 50 pages 
perhaps. 1 Will you ascertain the cost, and tell me whether, in the 
event of my continuing hot on the subject half a year hence, you 
would be the corrector of the press % . . . Will you examine catalogues 
to find whether there is any dictionary of ancient Egyptian within 
my means, so that I might purchase and compare 1 I should not 
grudge two or three pounds for it. Professor Vater has written on 
it, but I do not know what dictionary he consulted. One Tattam 
has written a Coptic grammar ; perhaps that has a vocabulary, and 
might serve my purpose. I see Tattam advertised by John Russell 
Smith, 4 Old Compton Street, Soho, London, — ' Tattam (H.), Lexicon 
Egyptiaco-Latinum e veteribus linguae Lgyptiacae monwnentis ; thick 8vo, 
bds., 10s., Oxf. 1835.' Will you purchase the above for me?" 

At Mabotsa and Chonuane the Livingstones had spent 
but a little time ; Kolobeng may be said to have been 

1 This gives a correct idea of the length of many of his letters. 



1847-52J THIRD STATION, 97 

the only permanent home they ever had. During these 
years several of their children were born, and it was the 
only considerable period of their lives when both had 
their children about them. Looking back afterwards 
on this period, and its manifold occupations, whilst de- 
tained in Manyuema, in the year 1870, Dr. Livingstone 
wrote the following striking words : — 

M I often ponder over my missionary career among the Bakwains or 
Bakwaina, and though conscious of many imperfections, not a single 
pang of regret arises in the view of my conduct, except that I did not 
feel it to be my duty, while spending all my energy in teaching the 
heathen, to devote a special portion of my time to play with my 
children. But generally I was so much exhausted with the mental 
and manual labour of the day, that in the evening there was no fun 
left in me. I did not play with my little ones while I had them, and 
they soon sprung up in my absences, and left me conscious that I had 
none to play with." 

The heart that felt this one regret in looking back to 
this busy time must have been true indeed to the instincts 
of a parent. But Livingstone's case w r as no exception to 
that mysterious law of our life in this world, by which, 
in so many things, we learn how to correct our errors 
only alter the opportunity is gone. Of all the crooks in 
his lot, that which gave him so short an opportunity of 
securing the affections and moulding the character of his 
children seems to have been the hardest to bear. His 
detention at ^Manyuema appears, as we shall see 
hereafter, to have been spent by him in learning more 
completely the lesson of submission to the will of God ; 
and the hard trial of separation from his family, entailing 
on them what seemed irreparable loss, was among the 
of his sorrows over which he was able to write the 
words with which he closes the account of his wife's 
death in the Z<u>>hrsi and its Tributaries, — " Fiat, 

DOMINE, VOLUNTAS TUA I" 



9 8 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. vi. 



CHAPTER VI. 

KOLOBENG continued — LAKE ? NGAMI. 
a.d. 1849-1852. 

Kolobeng failing through drought — Sebituane's country and the Lake 'Ngaml — 
Livingstone sets out with Messrs. Oswell and Murray — Rivers Zouga and 
Tamanak'le — Old ideas of the interior revolutionised — Enthusiasm of Living- 
stone — Discovers Lake 'Ngami — Obliged to return — Prize from Royal Geo- 
graphical Society — Second expedition to the lake, with wife and children — 
Children attacked by fever — Again obliged to return — Conviction as to 
healthier spot beyond — Idea of finding passage to sea either west or east — 
Birth and death of a child — Family visits Kuruman — Third expedition, again 
with family — He hopes to find a new locality — Perils of the journey — He 
reaches Sebituane — The Chief's illness and death — Distress of Livingstone — 
Mr Oswell and he go on to Linyanti — Discovery of the Upper Zambesi — No 
locality found for settlement — More extended journey necessary — He returns 
—Birth of Oswell Livingstone — Crisis in Livingstone's life — His guiding prin- 
ciples — New plans — The Makololo begin to practise slave-trade — New thoughts 
about commerce — Letters to Directors — The Bakwains — Pros and cons of his 
new plan— His unabated missionary zeal — He goes with his family to the Cape 
— His literary activity. 

When Sechele turned back after going so far with 
Livingstone eastwards, it appeared that his courage had 
failed him. " Will you go with me northwards V Living- 
stone once asked him, and it turned out that he was 
desirous to do so. He wished to see Sebituane, a great 
chief living to the north of Lake 'Ngami, who had saved 
his life in his infancy, and otherwise done him much 
service. Sebituane was a man of great ability, who had 
brought a vast number of tribes into subjection, and 
now ruled over a very extensive territory, being one of 
the greatest magnates of Africa. Livingstone too had 
naturally a strong desire to become acquainted with so 
influential a man. The fact of his living near the lake 



1 849-5--] KOLOBEXG—LAKE 'NGAMI. 99 

revived the project that had slumbered for years in his 
mind — to be the first of the missionaries who should look 
on its waters. At Kolobeng, too, the settlement was in 
such straits, owino- to the excessive drought which dried 
up the very river, that the people would be compelled to 
leave it and settle elsewhere. The want of water, and 
consequently of food, in the gardens, obliged the men to 
be often at a distance hunting, and the women to be 
absent collecting locusts, so that there w T as hardly any 
one to come either to church or school. Even the observ- 
ance of the Sabbath broke down. If Kolobeng should 
have to be abandoned, where would Livingstone go next? 
It was certainly worth his while to look if a suitable 
locality could not be found in Sebituane's territory. He 
had resolved that he would not stay with the Bakwains 
always. If the new region were not suitable for himself, 
he might find openings for native teachers ; at all events, 
he would go northwards and see. Just before he started, 
messengers came to him from Lechulatebe, chief of the 
people of the lake, asking him to visit his country, and 
giving such an account of the quantity of ivory that the 
cupidity of the Bak.wain guides was roused, and they 
became quite eager to be there. 

On 1st June 1849 Livingstone accordingly set out 
from Kolobeng. Sechele was not of the party, but two 
English hunting friends accompanied him, Mr. Oswell 
and Mr. Murray — Mr. Oswell generously defraying the 
cost of the guides. Sekomi, a neighbouring chief who 
secretly wished the expedition to fail, lest his monopoly 
of the ivory should be broken up, remonstrated with them 
for rushing on to certain death — they must be killed by 

sun and thirst, and if he did not stop them, people 
would blame him for the issue. "No fear," said Living- 
stone, '-'people will only blame our own stupidity." 

The great Kalahari desert, of which Livingstone has 
given so full an account, lay between them and the lake. 



ioo DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. vi. 

They passed along its north-east border, and had tra- 
versed about half of the distance, when one day it seemed 
most unexpectedly that they had got to their journey's 
end. Mr. Oswell was a little in advance, and having 
cleared an intervening thick belt of trees, beheld in the 
soft light of the setting sun what seemed a magnificent 
lake twenty miles in circumference ; and at the sight 
threw his hat in the air, and raised a shout which made 
the Bakwains think him mad. He fancied it was 'Ngami, 
and, indeed, it was a wonderful deception, caused by a 
large salt-pan gleaming in the light of the sun ; in fact, 
the old but ever new phenomenon of the mirage. The 
real 'Ngami was yet 300 miles farther on. 

Livingstone has given ample details of his progress in 
the Missionary Travels, dwelling especially on his joy 
when he reached the beautiful river Zouga, whose waters 
flowed from 'Ngami. Providence frustrated an attempt 
to rouse ill-feeling against him on the part of two men 
who had been sent by Sekomi, apparently to help him, 
but who now went before him and circulated a report 
that the object of the travellers was to plunder all the 
tribes living on the. river and lake* Half-way up, the 
principal man was attacked by fever, and died ; the 
natives thought it a judgment, and seeing through 
Sekomi' s reason for wishing the expedition not to suc- 
ceed, they by and by became quite friendly, under 
Livingstone's fair and kind treatment. 

A matter of great significance in his future history 
occurred at the junction of the rivers Tamanak'le and 
Zouga : — 

"I inquired," lie says, "whence the Tamanak'le came. 'Oh! 
from a country full of rivers, — so many, no one can tell their number, 
and full of large trees.' This was the first confirmation of statements 
I had heard from the Bakwains who had been with Sebituane, that 
the country beyond was not the 'large sandy plateau' of the philosophers. 
The prospect of a highway, capable of being traversed by boats to an 
entirely unexplorefd and very populous region, grew from that time 



1849-5 -•] KOLOBENG—LAKE 'NGAMI. 101 

forward stronger and stronger in my mind ; so much so, that when we 
actually came to the lake, this idea occupied such a large portion of 
my mental vision, that the actual discovery seemed of but little 
importance. I find I "wrote, when the emotions caused by the 
magnificent prospects of the new country were first awakened in my 
breast, that they 'might subject me to the charge of enthusiasm, a 
charge which I wished I deserved, as nothing good or great had ever 
been accomplished in the world without it."' 1 

Twelve days after, the travellers came to the north- 
east end of Lake 'Ngami, and it was on 1st August 1849 
that tins fine sheet of water w T as beheld for the first time 
by Europeans. It was of such magnitude that they 
could not see the farther shore, and they could only 
guess its size from the reports of the natives that it took 
three days to go round it. 

Lechulatebe, the chief who had sent him the invita- 
tion, was quite a young man, and his reception by no 
means corresponded to what the invitation implied. He 
had no idea of Livingstone going on to Sebituane, who 
lived two hundred miles farther north, and perhaps 
supplying him with fire-arms which would make him a 
more dangerous neio-hbour. He therefore refused Livincr- 
stone guides to Sebituane, and sent men to prevent him 
from crossing the river. Livingstone was not to be balked, 
and worked many hours in the river trying to make a raft 
out of some rotten wood, — at the imminent risk of his life, 
;is be afterwards found, for the Zouga abounds with alliga- 
tors. The season was now far advanced, and as Mr. Oswell 
volunteered to go down to the Cape and bring up a boat 
next year, the expedition was abandoned for the time. 

Iteturning home by the Zouga, they had better oppor- 
tunity to mark the extraordinary richness of the country, 
and the abundance and luxuriance of its products, both 
animal and vegetable. Elephants existed in crowds, 
and ivory was so abundant that a trader was purchasing 
it at the rate of ten tusks for a musket worth fifteen 

1 Missionary Travels, p. G5. 



102 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. vi. 

shillings. Two years later, after effect had been given to 
Livingstone's discovery, the price had risen very greatly. 
Writing to his friend Watt, he dwells with delight 
on the river Zouga : — 

"It is a glorious river ; you never saw anything so grand. The 
banks are extremely beautiful, lined with gigantic trees, many 
quite new. One bore a fruit a foot in length and three inches in 
diameter. Another measured seventy feet in circumference. Apart 
from the branches it looked like a mass of granite ; and then the 
Bakoba in their canoes — did I not enjoy sailing in them % Remember 
how long I have been in a parched-up land, and answer. The Bakoba 
are a fine frank race of men, and seem to understand the message better 
than any people to whom I have spoken on Divine subjects for the 
first time. What think you of a navigable highway into a large 
section of the interior % yet that the Tamanak'le is. . . . Who will 
go into that goodly land 1 Who ] Is it not the Niger of this part of 
Africa 1 . . . I greatly enjoyed sailing in their canoes, rude enough 
things, hollowed out of the trunks of single trees, and visiting the 
villages along the Zouga. I felt but little when I looked on the lake; 
but the Zouga and Tamanak'le awakened emotions not to be described. 
I hope to go up the latter next year." 

The discovery of the lake and the river was communi- 
cated to the Royal Geographical Society in extracts from 
Livingstone's letters to the London Missionary Society, 
and to his friend and former fellow-traveller, Captain 
Steele. In 1849 the Society voted him a sum of twenty- 
five guineas "for his successful journey, in company with 
Messrs. Oswell and Murray, across the South African 
desert, for the discovery of an interesting country, a fine 
river, and an extensive inland lake." In addressing Dr. 
Tidman and Alderman Challis, who represented the 
London Missionary Society, the President (the late Cap- 
tain, afterwards Rear- Admiral, W. Smyth, R.N., who 
distinguished himself in early life by his journey across 
the Andes to Lima, and thence to the Atlantic), adverted 
to the value of the discoveries in themselves, and in the 
influence they would have on the regions beyond. He 
spoke also of the help which Livingstone had derived as 
an explorer from his influence as a missionary. The 



1849-5-J KOLOBEXG—LAKE 'NGAML 103 

journey he had performed successfully had hitherto baffled 
the best -furnished travellers. In 1834, an expedition 
under Dr. Andrew Smith, the largest and best-appointed 
that ever left Cape Town, had gone as far as 23° south 
latitude ; but that proved to be the utmost distance they 
could reach, and they were compelled to return. Captain 
Sir James E. Alexander, the only scientific traveller 
subsequently sent out from England by the Geographical 
Society, in despair of the lake, and of discovery by the oft- 
tried eastern route, explored the neighbourhood of the 
western coast instead. 1 The President frankly ascribed 
Livingstone's success to the influence he had acquired as a 
missionary among the natives, and Livingstone thoroughly 
believed this. " The lake/' he wrote to his friend Watt, 
" belongs to missionary enterprise." " Only last year," 
he subsequently wrote to the Geographical Society, " a 
party of engineers, in about thirty wagons, made many 
and persevering efforts to cross the desert at different 
points, but though inured to the climate, and stimulated 
by the prospect of gain from the ivory they expected to 
procure, they were compelled, for want of water, to give 
up the undertaking." The year after Livingstone's first 
visit, Mr. Francis Galton tried, but failed, to reach the 
lake, though he was so successful in other directions as to 
obtain the Society's gold medal in 1852. 

Livingstone was evidently gratified a/t the honour 
paid him, and the reception of the twenty-five guineas 
from the Queen. But the gift had also a comical side. 
It carried him back to the days of his Radical youth, when 
he and his friends used to criticise pretty sharply the 
destination of the nation's money. "The Royal Geogra- 
phical Society," he writes to his parents (4th December 
1850), "have awarded twenty-five guineas for the disco very 
of the lake. It is from the Queen. You must be very 
loyal, all of you. Next time she comes your way, shout 

1 Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, vol. xx. p, xxviii. 



io 4 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. vi. 

till you are hoarse. Oh you Badicals, don't be thinking 
it came out of your pockets ! Long live Victoria !" 3 

Defeated in his endeavour to reach Sebituane in 1849, 
Livingstone, the following season, put in practice his 
favourite maxim — "Try again." He left Kolobeng in 
April 1850, and this time he was accompanied by Sechele, 
Mebalwe, twenty Bakwains, Mrs. Livingstone, and their 
whole troop of infantry, which now amounted to three. 
Travelling in the charming climate of South Africa in the 
roomy wagon, at the pace of two miles and a half an 
hour, is not like travelling at home ; but it was a proof of 
Livingstone's great unwillingness to be separated from 
his family, that he took them with him, notwithstanding 
the risk of mosquitos, fever, and want of water. The 
people of Kolobeng were so engrossed at the time with 
their employments, that till harvest was over, little mis- 
sionary work could be done. 

The journey was difficult, and on the northern branch 
of the Zouga many trees had to be cut down to allow the 
wagons to pass. The presence of a formidable enemy 
was reported on the banks of the Tamanak'le, — the tsetse- 
fly, whose bite is so fatal to oxen. To avoid it, another 
route had to be chosen. When they got near the lake, 
it was found that fever had recently attacked a party of 
Englishmen, one of whom had died, while the rest 
recovered under the care of Dr. and Mrs. Livingstone. 
Livingstone took his family to have a peep at the lake ; 
"the children," he wrote, "took to playing in it as duck- 
lings do. J^aidling in it was great fun." Great fun to 
them, who nacl^seen little enough water for a while ; and 
in a quiet way, great fun to their father too — his own 
children " paidling " in his own lake ! He was begin- 

1 In a more serious vein he wrote in a previous letter : " I wonder you do not go 
to see the Queen. I was as disloyal as others when in England, for though I 
might have seen her in London, I never went. Do you ever pray for her ?" This 
letter is dated 5th February 1850, and must have been written before he heard of 
the prize. 



1S49-52] KOLOBEXG—LAKE 'NGAMI. 105 

ning to find that in a missionary point of view, the pre- 
sence of his wife and children was a considerable advan- 
tage ; it inspired the natives with confidence 4 , and pro- 
moted tender feelings and kind relations. The chief, 
Leehulatebe, was at last propitiated at a considerable 
sacrifice, having taken a fancy to a valuable rifle of 
Livingstone's, the gift of a friend, which could not be re- 
placed. The chief vowed that if he got it, he would give 
Livingstone everything he wished, and protect and feed 
his wife and children into the bargain, while he went on 
to Sebituane. Livingstone at once handed him the gun. 
"It is of great consequence," he said, " to gain the con- 
fidence of these fellows at the beginning." It was his 
intention that Mrs. Livingstone and the children should 
remain at Lechulatebe's until he should have returned. 
But the scheme was upset by an outburst of fever. 
Among others, two of the children were attacked. There 
was no help but to go home. The gun was left behind 
in the hope that ere long Livingstone would get back to 
claim the fulfilment of the chiefs promise. It was plain 
that the neighbourhood of the lake was not habitable by 
Europeans. Hence a fresh confirmation of his views as 
to the need of native agency, if intertropical Africa was 
ever to be Christianised. 

But Livingstone was convinced that there must be a 
healthier spot to the north. Writing to Mr. Watt (18th 
August 1850), he not only expresses this conviction, but 
gives the ground on which it rested. The extract which 
we subjoin gives a glimpse of the sagacity that from 
apparently little things drew great conclusions; but more 
than that, it indicates the birth of the great idea that 
dominated the next period of Livingstone's life — the 
desire and determination to find a passage to the sea, 
either on the east or west coast^: — 

" A more salubrious climate must exist farther up to the north, and 
that the country is higher, seems evident from the fact mentioned by 



106 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. vi. 

the Bakoba, that the water of the Teoge, the river that falls into the 
'Ngami at the north-west point of it, flows with great rapidity. 
Cances ascending, punt all the way, and the men must hold on by 
reeds in order to prevent their being carried down by the current. 
Large trees, spring-bucks and other antelopes, are sometimes brought 
down by it. Do you wonder at my pressing on in the way we have 
done % The Bechuana mission has been carried on in a ad-de-sac. I 
tried to break through by going among the Eastern tribes, but the 
Boers shut up that field. A French missionary, Mr. Fredoux, of 
Motito, tried to follow on my trail to the Bamangwato, but was turned 
back by a party of armed Boers. When we burst through the barrier 
on the north, it appeared very plain that no mission could be success- 
ful there, unless we could get a well-watered country leaving a passage 
to the sea on either the east or west coast. This project I am almost 
afraid to meet, but nothing else will do. I intend (d. V.) to go in next 
year and remain a twelvemonth. My wife, poor soul — I pity her ! — 
proposed to let me go for that time while she remained at Kolobeng. 
You will pray for us both during that period." 

A week later (August 24, 1850) he writes to the 
Directors that no convenient access to the* region can 
he obtained from the south, the lake being 870 miles 
from Kuruman : — 

"We must have a passage to the sea on either the eastern or 
western coast. I have hitherto been afraid to broach the subject on 
which my perhaps dreamy imagination dwells. You at home are 
accustomed to look on a project as half finished when you have 
received the co-operation of the ladies. My better half has promised 
me a twelvemonth's leave of absence for mine. Without promising 
anything, I mean to follow a useful motto in many circumstances, and 
Try again." 

On returning to Kolobeng, Mrs. Livingstone was de- 
livered of a daughter — her fourth child. An epidemic was 
raging at the time, and the child was seized and cut off, at 
the age of six weeks. The loss, or rather the removal, 
of the child, affected Livingstone greatly. " It was the 
first death in our family," he says in his Journal, "but 
was just as likely to have happened had we remained at 
home, and we have now one of our number in heaven. " 

To his parents he writes (4th December 1850): — 

" Our last child, a sweet little girl with blue eyes, was taken from 
us to join the company of the redeemed, through the merits of Him 



1849-52] KOLOBEXG—LAKE 'NGAMI. 107 

of whom she never heard. It is wonderful how soon the affections 
twine round a little stranger. We felt her loss keenly. She was 
attacked by the prevailing sickness, which attacked' many native 
children, and bore up under it for a fortnight. We could not apply 
remedies to one so young, except the simplest. She uttered a piercing 
cry, previous to expiring, and then went away to see the King in His 
beauty, and the land — the glorious land, and its inhabitants. Hers 
is the first grave in all that country marked as the resting-place of one 
of whom it is believed and confessed that she shall live again." 

Mrs. Livingstone had an attack of serious illness, 
accompanied by paralysis of the right side of the face, 
and rest being essential for her, the family went, for a 
time, to Kuruman. Dr. Livingstone had a strong desire 
to go to the Cape for the excision of his uvula, which 
had long been troublesome. But, with characteristic 
self-denial, he put his own case out of view, staying 
with his wife, that she might have the rest and atten- 
tion she needed. He tried to persuade his father-in-law 
to perform the operation, and, under his direction, Dr. 
Moffat went so far as to make a pair of scissors for the 
purpose ; but his courage, so well tried in other fields, 
was not equal to the performance of such a surgical 
operation. 

Some glimpses of Livingstone's musings at this time, 
showing, among other things, how much more he thought 
of his spiritual than his Highland ancestry, occur in a 
letter to his parents, written immediately after his return 
from his second visit to the lake (28th July 1850). 
If they should carry out their project of emigration to 
America, they would have an interesting family gather- 
ing :— 

" One, however, will be ' over the hills and far away ' from your 
happy meeting. The meeting which Ave hope will take place in 
Heaven, will be unlike a family one, in so far as earthly relationships 
are concerned. One will be so much taken up in looking at J< 
don't know when we shall be disposed to sit down and talk about 
the days of lang syne. And then there will be so many notables 
whom we should like to notice and shake hands with — Luke, for 
instance, the beloved physician, and Jeremiah, and old Job, and ><'oah, 



108 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. vi. 

and Enoch, that if you are wise, you will make the most of your union 
while you are together, and not fail to write me fully, while you have 
the opportunity here. . . . 

" Charles thinks we are not the descendants of the Puritans. I 
don't know what you are, but I am. And if you dispute it, I shall 
stick to the answer of a poor little boy before a magistrate. M. ' Who 
were your parents 1 ' Boy (rubbing his eyes with his jacket-sleeve), 
1 Never had none, sir/ Dr. Wardlaw says that the Scotch Indepen- 
dents are the descendants of the Puritans, and I suppose the pedigree 
is through Rowland Hill and Whitefield. But I was a member of the 
very church in which John Howe, the chaplain of Oliver Cromwell, 
preached, and exercised the pastorate. I was ordained too by English 
Independents. Moreover, I am a Doctor too. Agnes and Janet, get 
up this moment and 1 curtsy to his Reverence! John and Charles, 
remember the dream of the sheaves ! I descended from kilts and 
Donald Dhu's 1 Na, na, I won't believe it. 

" We have a difficult, difficult field to cultivate here. All I can 
say is, that I think knowledge is increasing. But for the belief 
that the Holy Spirit works, and will work for us, I should give 
up in despair. Remember us in your prayers, that we grow not 
weary in well-doing. It is hard to work for years with pure motives, 
and all the time be looked on by most of those to whom our lives are 
devoted, as having some sinister object in view. Disinterested labour 
— benevolence — is so out of their line of thought, that many look upon 
us as having some ulterior object in view. But He who died for us, 
and whom we ought to copy, did more for us than we can do for any 
one else. He endured the contradiction of sinners. May we have 
grace to follow in His steps ! " 

The third, and at last successful, effort to reach. 
Sebituane, was made in April 1851. Livingstone was 
again accompanied by his family, and by Mr Oswell. 
He left Kolobeng with the intention not to return, at 
least not immediately, but to settle with his family in 
such a spot as might be found advantageous, in the hilly 
region, of whose existence he was assured. They found 
the desert drier than ever, no rain having fallen through- 
out an immense extent of territory. To the kindness of 
Mr. Oswell the party was indebted for most valuable 
assistance in procuring water, wells having been dug or 
cleared by his people beforehand at various places, and 
at one place at the hazard of Mr. Oswell's life, under an 
attack from an infuriated lioness. In his private Journal, 



iS 4 9-5 2 -] KOLOBEXG—LAKE 'NGAMI. 109 

and in his letters to home, Livingstone again and again 
acknowledges with deepest gratitude the numberless acts 
of kindness done by Mr. Oswell to him and his family, 
and often adds the prayer that God would reward him, 
and of His grace give him the highest of all blessings. 
"Though I cannot repay, I may record with gratitude 
his kindness, so that, if spared to look upon these, my 
private memoranda, in future years, proper emotions may 
ascend to Him who inclined his heart to show so much 
friendship." 

The party followed the old route, around the bed of 
the Zouga, then crossed a piece of the driest desert they 
had ever seen, with not an insect or a bird to break the 
stillness. On the third day a bird chirped in a bush, 
when the dog began to bark ! Shobo, their guide, a 
Bushman, lost his way, and for four days they were 
absolutely without water. In his Missionary Travels, 
Livingstone records quietly, as was his wont, his terrible 
anxiety about his children : — 

u The supply of water in the wagons had been wasted by one of 
our servants, and by the afternoon only a small portion remained for 
the children. This was a bitterly anxious night; and next morning, 
the less there was of water, the more thirsty the little rogues became. 
The idea of their perishing before our eyes was terrible ; it would 
almost have been a relief to me to have been reproached with being 
tin- entire cause of the catastrophe, but not one syllable of upbraiding 
was uttered by their mother, though the tearful eye told the agony 
within. In the afternoon of the fifth day, to our inexpressible relief, 
some "f the men returned with a supply of that fluid of which we had 
never before felt the true value." 

"No one," he remarks in his Journal, "knows the value of water 
till he is deprived of it. We never need any spirits to qualify it, or 
prevent an immense draught of it from doing us harm. 1 have drunk 
water swarming with insects, thick with mud,, putrid from other 
mixtures, and no stinted draughts of it either, yet never felt any 
inconvenience from it." 

"My opinion is" he said on another occasion, " that the most 
labours and privations may be undergone without alcoholic 
stimulus, because those who have endured the most had nothing else 
but water, and not always enough of that." 



no DA VID LIVINGSIONE. [chap. vi. 

One of the great charms of Livingstone's character, 
and one of the secrets of his power — his personal interest 
in each individual, however humble — appeared in connec- 
tion with Shobo, the Bushman guide, who misled them 
and took the blunder so coolly. " What a wonderful 
people," he says in his Journal, " the Bushmen are ! 
always merry and laughing, and never telling lies 
wantonly like the Bechuana. They have more of the 
appearance of worship than any of the Bechuana. When 
will these dwellers in the wilderness bow down before 
their Lord ? No man seems to care for the Bushman s 
soul. I often wished I knew their language, but never 
more than when we travelled with our Bushman guide, 
Shobo." 

Livingstone had given a fair trial to the experiment 
of travelling along with his family. In one of his letters 
at this time he speaks of the extraordinary pain caused 
by the mosquitos of those parts, and of his children 
being so covered with their bites, that not a square inch 
of whole skin was to be found on their bodies. It is no 
wonder that he gave up the idea of carrying them with 
him in the more extended journey he was now contem- 
plating. He could not leave them at Kolobeng, exposed 
to the raids of the Boers ; to Kuruman there were also 
invincible objections ; the only possible plan was to send 
them to England, though he hoped that when he got 
settled in some suitable part of Sebituane's dominions, 
with a free road to the sea, they would return to him, 
and help him to bring the people to Christ. 

In the Missionary Travels Livingstone has given a 
full account of Sebituane, chief of the Makololo, "unques- 
tionably the greatest man in all that country " — his 
remarkable career, his wonderful warlike exploits (for 
which he could always bring forward justifying reasons), 
his interesting and attractive character, and wide and 
powerful influence. In one, thing Sebituane was very like 



1S49-52.] KOLOBENG—LAKE 'NGAML 11 1 

Livingstone himself; he had the art of gaining the 
affections both of his own people and of strangers. When 
a party of poor men came to his town, to sell hoes or skins 
he would sit down among them, talk freely and pleasantly 
to them, and probably cause some lordly dish to be 
brought, and give them a feast on it, perhaps the first 
they had ever shared. Delighted • beyond measure with 
his affability and liberality, they felt their hearts warm 
towards him ; and as he never allowed a party of strangers 
to go away without giving every one of them — servants 
and all — a present, his praises were sounded far and wide. 
" He has a heart ! he is wise I" were the usual expressions 
Livingstone heard before he saw him. 

Sebituane received Livingstone with great kindness, 
for it had been one of the dreams of his life to have 
intercourse with the white man. He placed full con- 
fidence in him from the beginning, and was ready to give 
him everything he might need. On the first Sunday 
when the usual service was held he was present, and 
Livingstone was very thankful that he was there, for it 
turned out to be the only proclamation of the gospel he 
ever heard. For just after realising what he had so long 
and ardently desired, he was seized with severe inflam- 
mation of the lungs, and died after a fortnight's illness. 
Livingstone, being a stranger, feared to prescribe, lest, in 
the event of his death, he should be accused of having 
caused it. On visiting him, and seeing that he was dying, 
he spoke a few words respecting hope after death. But 
being checked by the attendants for introducing the 
subject, he could only commend his soul to God. The 
last words of Sebituane were words of kindness to Living- 
stone's son: "Take him to Maunku (one of his wives) 
and tell her to give him some milk." Livingstone was 
deeply affected by his death. A deeper sense of brother- 
hood, a warmer glow of affection had been kindled in his 
heart towards Sebituane than had seemed possible. 



ii2 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. vi. 

With his very tender conscience and deep sense of 
spiritual realities, Livingstone was afraid, as in the case 
of Sehamy eight years before, that he had not spoken to 
him so pointedly as he might have done. It is awfully 
affecting to follow him into the unseen world, of which he 
had heard for the first time just before he was called 
away. In his Journal, Livingstone gives way to his 
feelings as he very seldom allowed himself to do. His 
words bring to mind David's lament for Jonathan or for 
Absalom, although he had known Sebituane less than a 
month, and he was one of the race whom many Boers and 
slave-stealers regarded as having no souls : — 

" Poor Sebituane, my heart bleeds for thee ; and what would I not 
do for thee now % I will weep for thee till the day of my death. 
Little didst thou think when, in the visit of the white man, thou 
sawest the long cherished desires of years accomplished, that the sen- 
tence of death had gone forth ! Thou thoughtest that thou shouldest 
procure a weapon from the white man which would be a shield from 
the attacks of the fierce Matebele ; but a more deadly dart than theirs 
was aimed at thee ; and though thou couldest well ward off a dart — 
none ever better — thou didst not see that of the king of terrors. I 
will weep for thee, my brother, and I would cast forth my sorrows in 
despair for thy condition ! But I know that thou wilt receive no 
injustice whither thou art gone ; * Shall not the Judge of all the earth 
do right V I leave thee to Him. Alas ! alas ! Sebituane. I might 
have said more to him. God forgive me. Free me from blood-guilti- 
ness. If I had said more of death I might have been suspected as 
having foreseen the event, and as guilty of bewitching him. 1 might 
have recommended Jesus and His great atonement more. It is, 
however, very difficult to break through the thick crust of ignorance 
which envelops their minds." 

The death of Sebituane was a great blow in another 
sense. The region over which his influence extended was 
immense, and he had promised to show it to Livingstone 
and to select a suitable locality for his residence. This 
heathen chief would have given to Christ's servant what 
the Boers refused him ! Livingstone would have had his 
wish — an entirely new country to work upon, where the 
name of Christ had never yet been spoken. So at least 
he thought. Sebituane's successor in the chiefdom was 



1849-52] KOLOBEXG—LAKE XGAMI. 113 

his daughter, Ma-mochisane. From her he received liberty 
to visit any part of the country he chose. While waiting 
for a reply (she was residing at a distance), he one day 
fell into a great danger from an elephant which had come 
on him unexpectedly. " We were startled by his coming 
a little way in the direction in which we were standing, 
but he did not give us chase. I have had many escapes. 
We seem immortal till our work is done." 

Mr. Oswell and he then proceeded in a north-easterly 
direction, passing through the town of Linyanti, and on 
the 3d of August they came on the beautiful river 
at Sesheke : — 

u "We thanked God for permitting ns to see this glorious river. 
All we said to each other was ' How glorious ! how magnificent ! how 
beautiful !' ... In crossing, the waves lifted up the canoe and made 
it roll beautifully. The scenery of the Firths of Forth and Clyde was 
brought vividly to my view, and had I been fond of indulging in 
sentimental effusions, my lachrymal apparatus seemed fully charged. 
But then the old man who was conducting us across might have said, 
' What on earth are you blubbering for 1 Afraid of these crocodiles, 
eh I ' The little sentimentality which exceeded was forced to take its 
course down the inside of the nose. We have other work in this 
world than indulging in sentimentality of the ' Sonnet to the Moon ' 
variety." 

The river which went here by the name of Sesheke 
was found to be the Zambesi, which had not previously 
been known to exist in that region. In writing about it 
to his brother Charles, lie says, " It was the first river I 
ever saw." Its discovery in this locality constituted one 
erf the great geographical feats with which the name of 
Livingstone is connected. He heard of rapids above, and 
of great waterfalls below : but it was reserved for him on 
a future visit to behold the great Victoria Falls, which 
in the popular imagination have filled a higher place than 
many of his more useful discoveries. 

The travellers were still a good many days' distance 
from Ma-mochisane, without whose presence nothing 
could be settled; but besides, the reedy banks of the 

H 



ii4 DA VI D LIVINGSTONE. [chap. vi. 

rivers were found to be unsuitable for a settlement, and 
the higher regions were too much exposed to the attacks 
of Mosilikatse. Livingstone saw no prospect of obtaining 
a suitable station, and with great reluctance he made up 
his mind to retrace t'he weary road, and return to Kolo- 
beng. The people were very anxious for him to stay, 
and offered to make a garden for him, and to fulfil Sebi- 
tuane's promise to give him oxen in return for those 
killed by the tsetse. 

Setting out with the wagons on 13th August 1851, 
the party proceeded slowly homewards. On 15th 
September 1851 Livingstone's Journal has this unex- 
pected and simple entry : " A son, William Oswell Living- 
ston, 1 born at a place we always call Bellevue." On the 
18th: "Thomas attacked by fever; removed a few 
miles to a high part on his account. Thomas was seized 
with fever three times at about an interval of a fort- 
night." Not a word about Mrs. Livingstone, but three 
pages of observations about medical treatment of fever, 
thunderstorms, constitutions of Indian and African 
people, leanness of the game, letter received from 
Directors approving generally of his course, a gold watch 
sent by Captain Steele, and Gordon Cumming's book, " a 
miserably poor thing." Amazed, we ask, Had Living- 
stone any heart ? But ere long we come upon a copy 
of a ]etter, and some remarks connected with it, that 
give us an impression of the depth and strength of 
his nature, unsurpassed by anything that has yet oc- 
curred. 

" The following extracts," he says, " show in what 
light our efforts are regarded by those who, as much as 
we do, desire that the ' gospel may be preached to all 
nations.' " Then follows a copy of a letter which had been 

1 He had intended to call him Charles, and announced this to his father ; but, 
finding that Mr. Oswell, to whom he was so much indebted, would be pleased 
with the compliment, he changed his purpose and the name accordingly. 



iS49-5 2 -] KOLOBENG—LAKE 'NGAMI. 115 

addressed to him before they set out by Mrs. Moffat,, 
his mother-in-law, remonstrating in the strongest terms 
against his plan of taking his wife with him ; reminding 
him of the death of the child, and other sad occurrences 
of last year : and, in the name of everything that w;is 
just, kind, and even decent, beseeching him to abandon 
an arrangement which all the world would condemn. 
Another letter from the same writer informed him that 
much prayer had been offered that, if the arrangements 
were not in accordance with Christian propriety, he might 
in great mercy be prevented by some dispensation of 
Providence from carrying them out. Mrs. Moffat was a 
woman of the highest gifts and character, and full of 
admiration for Livingstone. The insertion of these letters 
in his Journal shows that, in carrying out his plan, the 
objections to which it was liable were before his mind in 
the strongest conceivable form. No man who knows 
what Livingstone was will imagine for a moment that 
he had not the most tender regard for the health, the 
comfort, and the feelings of his wife ; in matters of deli- 
cacy he had the most scrupulous regard to propriety ; his 
resolution to take her with him must, therefore, have 
sprung from something far stronger than even his affec- 
tion for her. What was this stronger force ? 

It was his inviolable sense of duty, and his indefeas- 
ible conviction that his Father in heaven would not 
forsake him whilst pursuing a course in obedience to His 
will, and designed to advance the welfare of His children. 
As this furnishes the key to Livingstone's future life, and 
the answer to one of the most serious objections ever 
brought against it, it is right to spend a little time in 
elucidating the principles by which lie was guided. 

There was a saying of the late Sir Herbert Edwardes 
which bo highly valued : "He who has to act on his own 
responsibility is a slave if he does not act on his own 
judgment." Acting on this maxim, he must set aside 



n6 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. vi. 

the views of others as to his duty, provided his own 
judgment was clear regarding it. He must even set aside 
the feelings and apparent interest of those dearest to him, 
because duty was above everything else. His faith in 
God convinced him that, in the long-run, it could never 
be the worse for him and his that he had firmly done his 
duty. All true faith has in it an element of venture, and 
in Livingstone's faith this element was strong. Trusting 
God, he could expose to venture even the health, comfort, 
and welfare of his wife and children. He was convinced 
that it was his duty to go forth with them and seek a 
new station for the gospel in Sebituane's country. If this 
was true, God would take care of them, and it was 
" better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in 
man." People thoughtlessly accused him of making light 
of the interests of his family. No man suffered keener 
pangs from the course he had to follow concerning them, 
and no man pondered more deeply what duty to them 
required. 

But to do all this, Livingstone must have had a very 
clear perception of the course of duty. This is true. 
But how did he get this ? First, his singleness of heart, 
so to speak, attracted the light : "If thine eye be single, 
thy whole body shall be full of light." Then, he was 
very clear and very minute in his prayers. Further, 
he was most careful to scan all the providential indica- 
tions that might throw light on the Divine will. And 
when he had been carried so far on in the line of duty, 
he had a strong presumption that the line would be 
continued, and that he would not be called to turn 
back. It was in front, not in rear, that he expected 
to find the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire. In 
course of time, this hardened into a strong instinctive 
habit, which almost dispensed with the process of 
reasoning. 

In Dean Stanley's Sinai and Palestine allusion is 



1849-52.] KOLOBENG—LAKE 'NGAMI. 117 

made to a kindred experience, — that which bore Abraham 
from Chaldea, Moses from Egypt, and the greater part of 
the tribes from the comfortable pastures of Gilead and 
Bashan to the rugged hill-country of Judah and Ephraim. 
Xot withstanding all the attractions of the richer countries, ( 
they were borne onwards and forwards, not knowing | 
whither they went, instinctively feeling that they were 
fulfilling the high purposes to which they were called. 
In the later part of Livingstone's life, the necessity of 
going forward to the close of the career that had 
opened for him seemed to settle the whole question of 
duty. 

But at this earlier stage, he had been conscientiously 
scrutinising all that had any bearing on that question ; 
and now that he finds himself close to his home, and can 
thank God for the safe confinement of his wife, and the 
health of the new-born child, he gathers together all the 
providences that showed that in this journey, which 
excited such horror even among his best friends, he had 
after all been following the guidance of his Father. 
First, in the matter of guides, he had been wonderfully 
helped, notwithstanding a deep plot to deprive him of 
any. Then there was the sickness of Sekdmi, whose 
interest had been secured through his going to see him, 
and prescribing for him ; this had propitiated one of 
the tribes. The services of Shobo too, and the selection 
of the northern route, proposed by Kamati, had been of 
great use. Their going to Sesheke, and their detention 
for two months, thus allowing them time to collect in- 
formation respecting the whole country; the river Chobe 
not rising at its usual time; the saving of Livingstone's 
oxen from the tsetse, notwithstanding their detention 
on the Zouga; his not going with Mr. Oswell to a place 
where the tsetse destroyed many of the oxen; the better 
health of Mrs. Livingstone during her confinement than 
in any previous one; a very opportune present they 



n8 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. vi. 

had got, just before her confinement, of two bottles of 
wine; 1 the approbation of the Directors, the presenta- 
tion of a gold watch by Captain Steele, the kind atten- 
tions of Mr. O swell, and the cookery of one of their 
native servants named George ; the recovery of Thomas, 
whereas at Kuruman a child had been cut off; the 
commencement of the rains, just as they were leaving 
the river, and the request of Mr. swell that they 
should draw upon him for as much money as they should 
need, were all among the indications that a faithful 
and protecting Father in heaven had been ordering their 
path, and would order it in like manner in all time to 
come. 

Writing at this time to his father-in-law, Mr. Moffat, 
he says, after announcing the birth of Os well : — "What 
you say about difference of opinion is true. In my past 
life, I have always managed to think for myself, and act 
accordingly. I have occasionally met with people who 
took it on themselves to act for me, and they have offered 
their thoughts with an emphatic ' I think ; ' but I have 
generally excused them on the score of being a little 
soft-headed in believing they could think both for me 
and themselves." 

While Kolobeng was Livingstone's headquarters, a 
new trouble rose upon the mission horizon. The Mako- 
lolo (as Sebituane's people were called) began to practise 
the slave-trade. It arose simply from their desire to 
possess guns. For eight old muskets they had given to 
a neighbouring tribe eight boys, that had been taken 
from their enemies in war, being the only article for 
which the guns could be got. Soon after, in a fray 
against another tribe, two hundred captives were taken, 
and, on returning, the Makololo met some Arab traders 

1 In writing to his father, Livingstone mentions that the wine was a gift from 
Mrs. Bysshe Shelley, in acknowledgment of his aid in repairing a wheel of her 
wagon. 



1S49-52.] KOLOBEXG—LAKE 'NGAML 119 

from Zanzibar, who for three muskets received about 
thirty of their captives. 

Another of the master ideas of his life now began to 
take hold upon Livingstone. Africa was exposed to a 
terrible evil through the desire of the natives to possess 
articles of European manufacture, and their readiness for 
this purpose to engage in the slave-trade. Though no 
African had ever been known to sell his own children 
into captivity, the tribes were ready enough to sell other 
children that had fallen into their hands by war or other- 
wise. But if a legitimate traffic were established through 
which they might obtain whatever European goods they 
desired in exchange for ivory and other articles of native 
produce, would not this frightful slave-trade be brought 
to an end ? The idea was destined to receive many a 
confirmation before Livingstone drew his last breath of, 
African air. It naturally gave a great impulse to the 
purpose which had already struck its roots into his soul | 
— to find a road to the sea either on the eastern or western 
coast. Interests wider and grander than even the plant- 
ing of mission stations on the territories of Sebituane now 
rose to his view. The welfare of the whole continent, 
both spiritual and temporal, was concerned in the success 
of this plan of opening new channels to the enterprise of 
British and other merchants, always eager to hear of new 
markets for their goods. By driving away the slave- 
trade much would be done to prepare the way for 
Christian missions which could not thrive in an atmo- 
sphere of war and commotion. An idea involving issues 
bo vast was fitted to take a right powerful hold on 
Livingstone's heart, and make him feel that no sacrifice 
could be too great to be encountered, cheerfully and 
patiently, for such an end. 

Writing to the Directors (October 1851) he says: — 

" You will see by the accompanying sketch-map what an immense 
region God in His grace has opened up. If we can enter in and form 



i2o DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. vi. 

a settlement, we shall be able in the course of a very few years to put 
a stop to the slave-trade in that quarter. It is probable that the 
mere supply of English manufactures on Sebituane's part will effect 
this, for they did not like the slave-trade, and promised to abstain. 
I think it will be impossible to make a fair commencement unless I 
can secure two years devoid of family cares. I shall be obliged to go 
southward, perhaps to the Cape, to have my uvula excised and my arm 
mended (the latter if it can be done only). It has occurred to me 
that, as we must send our children to England, it would be no great 
additional expense to send them now along with their mother. This 
arrangement would enable me to proceed, and devote about two or 
perhaps three years to this new region ; but I must beg your sanction, 
and if you please let it be given or withheld as soon as you can con- 
veniently, so that it might meet me at the Cape. To orphanise my 
children will be like tearing out my bowels, but when I can find time 
to write you fully you will perceive it is the only way, except giving 
up that region altogether. 

" Kuruman will not answer as a residence, nor yet the Colony. If 
I were to follow my own inclinations they would lead me to settle 
down quietly with the Bakwains, or some other small tribe, and 
devote some of my time to my children ; but Providence seems to call 
me to the regions beyond, and if I leave them anywhere in this country, 
it will be to let them become heathens. If you think it right to sup- 
port them, I believe my parents in Scotland would attend to them 
otherwise." 

Continuing the subject in a more leisurely way a few 
weeks later, he refers to the very great increase of traffic 
that had taken place since the discovery of Lake 'Ngami 
two years before ; the fondness of the people for Euro- 
pean articles ; the numerous kinds of native produce 
besides ivory, such as beeswax, ostrich feathers, etc., of 
which the natives made little or no use, but which they 
would take care of if regular trade were established 
among them. He thought that if traders were to come 
up the Zambesi and make purchases from the producers 
they would both benefit themselves and drive the slave- 
dealer from the market. It might be useful to establish 
a sanatorium, to which missionaries might come from less 
healthy districts to recruit. This would diminish the 
reluctance of missionaries to settle in the interior. For 
himself, though he had reared three stations with much 



iS 4 9-5 2 -] KOLOBEXG—LAKE 'NGAML 121 

bodily labour and fatigue, lie would cheerfully undergo 
much more if a new station would answer such objects. 
In referring to the countries drained by the Zambesi, he 
believed he was speaking of a large section of the slave- 
producing region of Africa. He then went on to say 
that to a certain extent their hopes had been disap- 
pointed ; Mr. Oswell had not been able to find a passage 
to the sea, and he had not been able to find a station for 
missionary work. They had therefore returned together. 
"He assisted me," adds Livingstone, "in every possible 
way. May God reward him!" 

In regard to mission work - for the future an important 
question arose, What should be done for the Bakwains ? 
They could not remain at Kolobeng — hunger and the 
I ->< >ers decided that point. Was it not then his duty to 
find and found a new station for them ? Dr. Livingstone 
thought not. He had always told them that he would 
remain with them only for a few years. One of his great 
ideas on missions in Africa was that a fair trial should be 
given to as many places as possible, and if the trial did 
not succeed the missionaries should pass on to other 
tribes. He had a great aversion to the common impres- 
sion that the less success one had the stronger was one's 
duty to remain. Missionaries were only too ready to 
settle down and make themselves as comfortable as 
possible, whereas the great need was for men to move on, 
to strike out into the regions beyond, to go into all the 
world. He had far more sympathy for tribes that had 
never heard the gospel than for those jvho had had it for 

rs. He used to refer to certain tribes near Griqualand 
that had got a little instruction, but had no stated mis- 
sionaries ; they used to send some of their people to the 
Griquas to learn what they could, and afterwards some 
others ; and these persons, returning, communicated what 
they knew, till a wonderful measure of knowledge was 
acquired, and a numerous church was formed. If the 



122 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. vi. 

seed had once been sown in any place it would not remain 
dormant, but would excite the desire for further know- 
ledge ; and on the whole it would be better for the people 
to be thrown somewhat on their own resources than to 
have everything done for them by missionaries from 
Europe. In regard to the Bakwains, though they had 
promised well at first, they had not been a very teachable 
people. He was not inclined to blame them ; they had 
been so pinched by hunger and badgered by the Boers 
that they could not attend to instruction ; or rather, 
they had too good an excuse for not doing so. "I have 
much affection for them," he says in his Journal, " and 
though I pass from them I do not relinquish the hope 
that they will yet turn to Him to whose mercy and love 
they have often been invited. The seed of the living 
Word will not perish." 

The finger of Providence clearly pointed to a region 
farther north in the country of the Barotse or beyond it. 
He admitted "that there were pros and cons in the case. 
Against his plan, — some of his brethren did not hesitate 
to charge him with, being actuated by worldly ambition. 
This was the more trying, for sometimes he suspected his 
own motives. Others dwelt on what was due to his 
family. Moreover, his own predilections were all for a 
quiet life. And there was also the consideration, that as 
the Directors could not well realise the distances he would 
have to travel before he reached the field, he might 
appear more as an explorer than a missionary. On the 
other hand, — 

" I am conscious," he says, " that though there is much impurity in 
my motives, they are in the main for the glory of Him to whom I have 
devoted myself. I never anticipated fame from the discovery of the 
Lake. I cared very little about it, but the sight of the Tamanak'le, and 
the report of other large rivers beyond, all densely populated, awakened 
many and enthusiastic feelings. . . . Then, again, consider the multi- 
tude that in the Providence of God have been brought to light in the 
country of Sebituane ; the probability that in our efforts to evangelise 
we shall put a stop to the slave-trade in a large region, and by means 



1S49-52.] KOLOBEXG—LAKE XGAMI. 123 

of the highway into the North which we have discovered bring un- 
known nations into the sympathies of the Christian world. If I were 
to choose my work, it would be to reduce this new language, translate 
the Bible into it, and be the means of forming a small church. Let 
this be accomplished, I think I could then lie down and die con- 
tented. Two years' absence will be necessary. . . . Nothing but a 
strong conviction that the step will lead to the glory of Christ would 
make me orphanise my children. Even now my bowels yearn over 
them. They will forget me ; but I hope when the day of trial comes, 
I shall not be found a more sorry soldier than those who serve an 
earthly sovereign. Should you not feel yourselves justified in incur- 
ring the expense of their support in England, I shall feel called upon 
to renounce the hope of carrying the gospel into that country, and 
labour among those who live in a more healthy country, viz., the 
Bakwains. But, stay, lam not sure; so powerfully convinced ami 
that it is the will of our Lord I should, / will go, no matter who opposes ; 
but from you I expect nothing but encouragement. I know you wish 
as ardently as I can that all the world may be filled with the glory of 
the Lord. I feel relieved when 1 lay the whole case before you." 

He proposed that a brother missionary, Mr. Ashton, 
should be placed among the Bamangwato, a people who 
were in the habit of spreading themselves through the 
Bakalahari, and should thus form a link between himself 
and the brethren in the south. 

In a postscript, dated Bamangwato, 14th November, 
he gratefully acknowledges a letter from the Directors, 
in which his plans are approved of generally. They had 
recommended him to complete a dictionary of the Sichuana 
language. This he would have been delighted to do 
when his mind was full of the subject, but with the new 
projects now before him, and the probability of having to 
deal with a new language for the Zambesi district, he 
could not undertake such a work at present. 

In a subsequent letter to the Directors (Cape Town, 
17th March 1852), Livingstone finds it necessary to go 
into full details with regard to his finances. Though he 
writes with perfect calmness, it is evident that his ex- 
chequer was sadly embarrassed. In fact, he had already 
lmt only spent all the salary (£100) of 1852, but fifty- 
seven pounds of 1853, and the balance would be absorbed 



i2 4 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. vi. 

by expenses in Cape Town. He had been as economical 
as possible ; in personal expenditure most careful — he had 
been a teetotaler for twenty years. He did not hesitate 
to express his conviction that the salary was inadequate, 
and to urge the Directors to defray the extra expenditure 
which was now inevitable ; but with characteristic 
generosity, he urged Mr. Moffat's claims much more 
warmly than his own. 

From expressions in Livingstone's letter to the 
Directors, it is evident that he was fully aware of the 
risk he ran, in his new line of work, of appearing to sink 
the missionary in the explorer. There is no doubt that 
next to the charge of forgetting the claims of his family, 
to which we have already adverted, this was the most 
plausible of the objections taken to his subsequent career. 
But any one who has candidly followed his course of 
thought and feeling from the moment when the sense of 
unseen realities burst on him at Blantyre, to the time 
at which we have now arrived, must see that this view is 
altogether destitute of support. The impulse of divine 
love that had urged him first to become a missionary 
had now become with him the settled habit of his life, j 
No new ambition had flitted across his path, for though 
he had become known as a geographical discoverer, he 
says he thought very little of the fact, and his life shows 
this to have been true. Twelve years of missionary life 
had given birth to no sense of weariness, no abatement 
of interest in these poor black savages, no reluctance to 
make common cause with them in the affairs of life, no 
despair of being able to do them good. On the contrary, 
he was confirmed in his opinion of the efficacy of his 
favourite plan of native agency, and if he could but get a 
suitable base of operations, he was eager to set it going, 
and on every side he was assured of native welcome. 
Shortly before (5th February 1850), when writing to his 
father with reference to a proposal of his brother Charles 



1849-5*-] KOLOBENG—LAKE 'NGAMI. 125 

that he should go and settle in America, he had said: 
" I am a missionary, heart and soul. God had an only 
Son, and He was a missionary and a physician. A poor, 
poor imitation of Him I am, or wish to be. In this 
service I hope to live, in it I wish to die." The spectre 
of the slave-trade had enlarged his horizon, and shown 
hi 111 the necessity of a commercial revolution for the 
whole of Africa, before effectual and permanent good 
could be done in any part of it. The plan which he had 
now in view multiplied the risks he ran, and compelled 
him to think anew whether he was ready to sacrifice him- 
self and if so, for what. All that Livingstone did was 
thus done with open eyes, and well-considered resolution. 
Adverting to the prevalence of fever in some parts of the 
country, while other parts were comparatively healthy, he 
Bays in his Journal : — " I offer myself as a forlorn hope in 
order to ascertain whether there is a place fit to be a 
sanatorium for more unhealthy spots. May God accept 
my service, and use me for His glory. A great honour 
it is to be a fellow- worker with God." "It is a great 
venture/' he writes to his sister (28th April 1851). 
"Fever may cut us all off. I feel much when I think of 
the children dying. But who will go if we don't ? Not 
one. I would venture everything for Christ. Pity I 
have so little to give. But He will accept us, for He is a 
good master. Never one like Him. He can sympathise. 
May He forgive, and purify, and bless us/' 

If in his spirit of high consecration he was thus 
unchanged, equally far was he from having a fanatical 
disregard of life, and the rules of provident living. 

" Jesus," he says, " came not to judge — /epiva) — condemn judicially. 
or execute vengeance on any one. His was a message of peace and 
Be shall not Btrive nor cry, neither shall His voice be heard in 
the streets. Missionaries oughl to follow His example. Neither insist 
on our rights, nor appear as if we could allow- our goods to be desl royed 
without regret : for if we are righteous overmuch, or stand up for our 
rights with too much vehemence, we beget dislikes, and the people Bee 



i26 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. vi. 

no difference between ourselves and them. And if we appear to care 
nothing for the things of this world, they conclude we are rich, and 
when they beg, our refusal is ascribed to niggardliness, and our pro- 
perty, too, is wantonly destroyed. 'Gaba tloke'=they are not in 
need, is the phrase employed when our goods are allowed to go to 
destruction by the neglect of servants. ... In coming among savage 
people, we ought to make them feel we are of them, 'we seek not 
yours, but you;' but while very careful not to make a gain of them, 
we ought to be as careful to appear thankful, and appreciate any effort 
they may make for our comfort or subsistence." 

On reaching Kolobeng from 'Ngami, they found the 
station deserted. The Bakwains had removed to Limatie. 
Sechele came down the day after, and presented them 
with an ox — a valuable gift in his circumstances. Sechele 
had much yet to bear from the Boers ; and after being, 
without provocation, attacked, pillaged and wasted, and 
robbed of his children, he was bent on going to the Queen 
of England to state his wrongs. This, however, he could 
not accomplish, though he went as far as the Cape. 
Coming back afterwards to his own people, he gathered 
large numbers about him from other tribes, to whose 
improvement he devoted himself with much success. 
He still survives, with the one wife whom he retained ; 
and, though not without some drawbacks (which 
Livingstone ascribed to the bad example set him by 
some), he maintains his Christian profession. His people 
are settled at some miles' distance from Kolobeng, and 
have a missionary station, supported by a Hanoverian 
Society. His regard for. the memory of Livingstone is 
very great, and he reads with eagerness all that he can 
find about him. He has ever been a warm friend of 
missions, has a wonderful knowledge of the Bible, and 
can preach well. The influence of Livingstone in his 
early days was doubtless a real power in mission-work. 
Mebalwe, too, we are informed by Dr. Moffat, still sur- 
vives ; a useful man, an able preacher, and one who has 
done much to bring his people to Christ. 



1849-52.] KOLOBEXG—LAKE 'NGAM1 127 

It was painful to Livingstone to say good-bye to the 
Bak wains, and (as Mrs. Moffat afterwards reminded him) 
his friends were not all in favour of his doing so ; but he 
regarded his departure as inevitable. After a short stay 
at Kuruman, he and his family went on to Cape Town, 
where they arrived on the 16th of March 1852, and had 
new proofs of Mr. Oswell's kindness. After eleven years' 
absence, Livingstone's dress-coat had fallen a little out of 
fashion, and the whole costume of the party was somewhat 
in the style of Robinson Crusoe. The generosity of "the 
best friend we have in Africa " made all comfortable, Mr. 
Oswell remarking that Livingstone had as good a right 
as he to the money drawn from the "preserves on his 
estate " — the elephants. Mentally, Livingstone traces to 
its source the kindness of his friend, thinking of One to 
whom he owed all — "O divine Love, I have not loved 
Thee strongly, deeply, warmly enough." The retrospect 
of his eleven years of African labour, unexampled though 
they had been, only awakened in him the sense of unpro- 
fitable service. 

Before closing the record of this period, we must take 
a glance at the remarkable literary activity which it 
witnessed. We have had occasion to refer to Living- 
stone's first letters to Captain Steele, for the Geographical 
Society ; additional letters were contributed from time 
to time. His philological researches have also been 
noticed. In addition to these, we find him writing two 
articles on African Missions for the British Quarterly 
Review, only one of which was published. He likewise 
wrote two papers for the British Banner on the Boers. 
While crossing the desert, after leaving the Cape on his 
great journey, he wrote a remarkable paper on 
"Missionary Sacrifices," and another of great vigour on 
the Boers. Still another paper on Lake 'Ngami was 
written for a Missionary Journal contemplated, but never 
started, under the editorship of the late Mr. Isaac Taylor; 



i28 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. vi. 

and he had one in his mind on the religion of the 

Bechuanas, presenting a view which differed somewhat 

from that of Mr. Moffat. Writing to Mr. Watt from 

Linyanti (3d October 1853), on printing one of his 

papers, he says : — 

" But the expense, my clear man. What a mess I am in, writing 
jmpers which cannot pay their own way ! Pauper papers, in fact, 
which must go to the workhouse for support. Ugh ! Has the Caffre 
War paper shared the same fate 1 and the Language paper too "? Here 
I have two by me, which I will keep in their native obscurity. One 
is on the South African Boers and slavery, in which I show that their 
church is, and always has been, the great bulwark of slavery, cattle- 
lifting, and Caffre-marauding ; and I correct the mistaken views of 
some writers who describe the Boers as all that is good, and of others 
who describe them as all that is bad, by showing who are the good 
and who are the bad. The other, which I rather admire — what father 
doesn't his own progeny ? — is on the missionary work, and designed to 
aid young men of piety to form a more correct idea of it than is to be 
had from much of the missionary biography of ' sacrifices.' I magnify 
the enterprise, exult in the future, etc., etc. It was written in coming 
across the desert, and if it never does aught else, it imparted comfort 
and encouragement to myself. 1 ... I feel almost inclined to send it. 
... If the Caffre War one is rejected, then farewell to spouting in 
Ee views." 

If he had met with more encouragement from editors 
he would have written more. But the editorial cold 
shoulder was beyond even his power of endurance. He 
laid aside his pen in a kind of disgust, and this doubt- 
less was one of the reasons that made him unwilling to 
resume it on his return to England. Editors were wiser 
then : and the offer from one London Magazine of £400 
for four articles, and from Good Words of £1000 for a 
number of papers to be fixed afterwards — offers which, 
however, were not accepted finally, — showed how the 
tide had turned. 

1 For extracts from the paper on " Missionary Sacrifices," see Appendix No. I., 
p. 473. For part of the paper on the Boers, see Catholic Presbyterian, December 
1879 (London, Nisbet and Co.). 



I S52-53-] FROM THE CAFE TO LINYANTL 129 



CHAPTER VII. 

FKOM THE CAPE TO LINYANTL 

A.D. 1852-1853. 

Unfavourable feeling at Cape Town — Departure of Mrs. Livingstone and children 
— Livingstone's detention and difficulties — Letter to his wife — to Agnes — 
< Occupations at Cape Town — The Astronomer-Royal — Livingstone leaves the 
Cape and reaches Kuruman— Destruction of Kolobeng by the Boers — Letters 
to his wife and Rev. J. Moore — His resolution to open up Africa or perish — 
Aniv.il at Linvanti — Unhealthiness of the country— Thoughts on setting out 
for coast — Sekele'tu'a kindness — Livingstone's missionary activity— Death of 
Mpepe, and of his father — Meeting with Ma-mochisane— Barotse country — 
Determines to go to Loanda — Heathenism unadulterated — Taste for the 
beautiful — Letter to his children — to his father — Last Sunday at Linyanti — 
Prospect of his falling. 

When Livingstone arrived at the Cape, he found the 
authorities in a state of excitement over the Caffre War, 
and very far from friendly towards the London Missionary 
Society, some of whose missionaries — himself among the 
number — were regarded as "unpatriotic." He had a 
very poor opinion of the officials, and their treatment 
of the natives scandalised him. He describes the trial 
of an old soldier, Botha, as "the most horrid exhibition 
I ever witnessed." The noble conduct of Botha in prison 
was a beautiful contrast to the scene in court. This 
whole Caffre War had exemplified the blundering of the 
British authorities, and was teaching the natives develop- 
ments, the issue of which could not be foreseen. As for 
himself, he writes to Mr. Moffat, that he was cordially 
hated, and perhaps he might be pulled up ; but he knew 
that some of his letters had been read by the Duke of 

1 



> 3 o DA VI D LIVINGSTONE. [chap. vii. 

Wellington and Lord Brougham with pleasure, and, 
possibly, he might get justice. lie bids his father-in- 
law not be surprised if he saw him abused in the news- 
papers. 

On the 23d April 1852, Mrs. Livingstone and the 
four • children sailed from Cape Town for England. The 
sending of his children to be brought up by others was 
a very great trial, and Dr. Livingstone seized the oppor- 
tunity to impress on the Directors that those by whom 
missionaries were sent out had a great duty to the 
children whom their parents were compelled to send 
away. Referring to the filthy conversation and ways of 
the heathen, he says : — 

" Missionaries expose their children to a contamination which they 
have had no hand in producing. We expose them and ourselves for 
a time in order to elevate those sad captives of sin and Satan, who are 
the victims of the degradation of ages. None of those who complain 
about missionaries sending their children home ever descend to this. 
And again, as Mr. James in his Young Man from Home forcibly shows, 
a greater misfortune cannot befall a youth than to be cast into the 
world without a home. In regard- to even the vestige of a home, my 
children are absolutely vagabonds. When shall we return to Kolobeng 1 ? 
When to Kuruman % Never. The mark of Cain is on your foreheads, 
your father is a missionary. Our children ought to have both the 
sympathies and prayers of those at whose bidding we become strangers 
for life." 

Was there ever a plea more powerful or more just ? 
It is sad to think that the coldness of Christians at home 
should have led a man like Livingstone to fancy that, 
because his children were the children of a missionary, 
they would bear the mark of Cain, and be homeless 
vagabonds. Why are we at home so forgetful of the 
privilege of refreshing the bowels of those who take their 
lives in their hands for the love of Christ, by making a 
home for their offspring ? In a higher state of Christianity 
there will be hundreds of the best families at home 
delighted, for the love of their Master, to welcome and 
bring up the missionary's children. And when the Great 



lS >5?-55-] FROM THE CAFE TO L1NYANTL 131 

Day comes, none will more surely receive that best of all 
forms of repayment, " Inasmuch as ye did it unto the 
least of these my brethren, ye did it unto Me." 

Livingstone, who had now got the troublesome uvula 
cut out, was detained at the Cape nearly two months 
after his family left. He was so distrusted by the 
authorities that they would hardly sell powder and 
shot to him, and he had to fight a battle that demanded 
all his courage and perseverance for a few boxes of 
percussion caps. At the last moment, a troublesome 
country postmaster, to whom he had complained of 
an overcharge of postage, threatened an action against 
him for defamation of character, and, rather than be 
further detained, deep in debt though he was, Living- 
stone had to pay him a considerable sum. His family 
were much in his thoughts ; he found some relief in 
writing by every mail. His letters to his wife are too 
sacred to be spread before the public; we confine our- 
selves to a single extract, to show over what a host of 
suppressed emotions he had to march in this expedi- 
tion : — 

"Cope Town, 5th May 1852. — My dearest Mary, — How I 
miss you now, and the dear children! My heart yearns incessantly 
over you. How many thoughts of the past crowd into my mind! 
I feel a- if I would treat you all much more tenderly and lovingly 
than ever. You have hem a great blessing to me. You attended 
to in)' comfort in many many ways. May God bless you for all 
your kindnesses ! I see no face now to be compared with that 
sunburnt one which has so often greeted me with its fcind looks. 
Let us do our duty to our Saviour, and we shall meet again. I 
wish that time were now. You may read the letters over again 
which I wrote at Mabotsa, the sweet time you know. As I told you 
before, I tell you again, they are true, true; there is not a bit of 
hypocrisy in them. I never show all my feelings; but I can say truly, 
my dearest, that I loved you when I married you, and the longer [ 
lived with you, I loved you the better. . . . Let us do our duty 
to Christ, and He will bring us through the world with honour and 
usefulness. He is our refuge and high tower; let us trust in Him at 
all times, and in all circumstances. Love Him more and more, and 
diffuse His love among the children. Take them all round you, and 



132 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap, vii 

kiss them for me. Tell them I have left them for the love of Jesus, 
and they must love Him too, and avoid sin, for that displeases Jesus. 
I shall be delighted to hear of you all safe in England. . . ." 

A few days later, he writes to his eldest daughter, 
then in her fifth year : — 

" Cape Town, 18th May 1852. — My dear Agnes, — This is your 
own little letter. Mamma will read it to you, and you will hear her 
just as if I were speaking to you, for the words which I write are those 
which she will read. I am still at Cape Town. You know you left 
me there when you all went into the big ship and sailed away. Well, 
I shall leave Cape Town soon. Malatsi has gone for the oxen, and 
then I shall go away back to Sebiti|ane's country, and see Seipone and 
Meriye, who gave you the beads and fed you with milk and honey. I 
shall not see you again for a long time, and I am very sorry. I have 
ho Nannie now. I have given you back to Jesus, your Friend — your 
Papa who is in heaven. He is above you, but He is always near you. 
When we ask things from Him, that is praying to Him ; and if you do 
or say a naughty thing ask Him to pardon you, and bless you, and 
make you one of His children. Love Jesus much, for He loves 
you, and He came and died for you. Oh, how good Jesus is ! I love 
Him, and I shall love Him as long as I live. You must love Him too, 
and you must love your brothers and mamma, and never tease them 
or be naughty, for Jesus does not like to see naughtiness. — Good-bye, 
my dear Nannie, D. Livingston." 

Among his other occupations at Cape Town Living- 
stone put himself under the instructions of the Astronomer- ' 
Royal, Mr. (afterwards Sir Thomas) Maclear, who became 
one of his best and most esteemed friends. His object 
was to qualify himself more thoroughly for taking obser- 
vations ^hat would give perfect accuracy to his geogra- 
phical explorations. He tried English preaching too, but 
his throat was still tender, and he felt very nervous, as he 
had done at Ongar. "What a little thing," he writes to 
Mr. Moffat, " is sufficient to bring down to old-wifeishness 
such a rough tyke as I consider myself! Poor, proud 
human nature is a great fool after all." A second effort 
was more successful. "I preached," he writes to his 
wife, "on the text, ' Why will ye die V I had it written 
out and only referred to it twice, which is an improve- 



iS 5 2- 5 3-] FfiOM THE CAPE TO LIXYANTI. 133 

ment in English. I hope good was done. The people 
Avert 1 very attentive indeed. I felt less at a loss than in 
Union Chapel." 1 He arranged with a mercantile friend, 
Mr. Hntherfoord, to direct the operations of a native 
trader, George Fleming, whom that gentleman was to 
employ for the purpose of introducing lawful traffic in 
order to supplant the slave-trade. 

It was not till the 8th of June that he left the Cape. 
His wagon was loaded to double the usual weight from 
his good nature in taking everybody's packages. His 
oxen were lean, and he was^boo poor to provide better. He 
readied Griqua Town on the 15th August, and Kuruman 
a fortnight later. Many things had occasioned unex- 
pected delay, and the last crowning detention was caused 
by the breaking down of a wheel. It turned out, however, 
that these delays were probably the means of saving his 
life. Had they not occurred he would have reached Kolo- 
beng in August. But this was the very time when the 
commando of the Boers, numbering GOO colonists and many 
natives besides, were busy with the work of death and 
destruction. Had he been at Kolobeng, Pretorius would 
probably have executed his threat of killing him ; at 
the least he would have been deprived of all the property 
that he carried with him, and his projected enterprise 
would have been brought to an end. 

In a letter to his wife, Livingstone gives full details 
of the horrible outrage perpetrated shortly before by 
the Boers at Kolobeng : — 

u Kuruman, 20th September 1852. — Along with this I send you 
a long Letter ; tins I write in order to give you the latest news. The 
Boers gutted our house at Kolobeng; they brought four wagons 
down and took away sofa, table, bed, all the crockery, your desk 
(I hope it had nothing in it — Have you the letters'?), smashed the 
wooden chairs, took- away the iron ones, tore out the leaves of all the 
books, and scattered them in front of the house, smashed the bottles 

1 The manuscript of this sermon still exists. The sermon ia very simple, 
scriptural, and earnest, in the style of Bishop Ryle, or of Mr. Moody. 



134 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. vii. 

containing medicines, windows, oven-door, took away the smith- 
bellows, anvil, all the tools, — in fact everything worth taking : three 
corn-mills, a bag of coffee for which I paid six pounds, and lots of 
coffee, tea, and sugar, which the gentlemen who went to the north left ; 
took all our cattle and Paul's and Mebalwe's. They then went up 
to Limaiie, went to church morning and afternoon, and heard Mebalwe 
preach ! After the second service they told Sechele that they had 
come to fight, because he allowed Englishmen to proceed to the 
North, though they had repeatedly ordered him not to do so. He 
replied that he was a man of peace, that he could not molest 
Englishmen, because they had never done him any harm, and 
always treated him well. In the morning they commenced firing 
on the town with swivels, and set fire to it. The heat forced 
some of the women to flee, the men to huddle together on the 
small hill in the middle of the town ; the smoke prevented them seeing 
the Boers, and the cannon killed many, sixty (60) Bakwains. The 
Boers then came near to kill and destroy them all, but the Bakwains 
killed thirty-five (35), and many horses. They fought the whole day, 
but the Boers could not dislodge them. They stopped firing in the 
evening, and then the Bakwains retired on account of having no 
water. The above sixty are not all men ; women and children are 
among the slain. The Boers were 600, and they had 700 natives 
with them. All the corn is burned. Parties went out and burned Bang- 
waketse town, and swept off all the cattle. Sebubi's cattle are all gone. 
All the Bakhatla cattle gone. Neither Bangwaketse nor Bakhatla 
fired a shot. All the corn burned of the whole three tribes. Every- 
thing edible is taken from them. How will they live % They told 
Sechele that the Queen had given off the land to them, and henceforth 
they were the masters, — had abolished chieftainship. Sir Harry 
Smith tried the same, and England has paid two millions of money to 
catch one chief, and he is still as free as the winds of heaven. How will 
it end ] I don't know, but I will tell you the beginning. There are 
two parties of Boers gone to the Lake. These will to a dead cer- 
tainty be cut off. They amount to thirty-six men. Parties are sent 
now in pursuit of them. The Bakwains will plunder and murder the 
Boers without mercy, and by and by the Boers will ask the English 
Government to assist them to put down rebellion, and of this rebellion 
I shall have, of course, to bear the blame. They often expressed 
a wish to get hold of me. I wait here a little in order to get infor- 
mation when the path is clear. Kind Providence detained me from 
falling into the very thick of it. God will preserve me still. He has 
work for me or He would have allowed me to go in just when the 
Boers were there. We shall remove more easily now that we are 
lightened of our furniture. They have taken away our sofa. I never 
had a good rest on it. We had only got it ready when we left. Well, 
they can't have taken away all the stones. We shall have a seat in 
spite of them, and that too with a merry heart which doeth good like 



lS 52-53-] FROM THE CAPE TO LINYANTI. 135 

a medicine. I wonder what the Pe.ace Society would do with these 
worthies. They are Christians. The Dutch predicants baptize all 
their children, and admit them to the Lord's Supper. . . ." 

Dr. Livingstone was not disposed to restrain his in- 
dignation and grief over his losses. For one so patient 
and good, he had a very large vial of indignation, and on 
occasion poured it out right heartily over all injustice 
and cruelty. On no heads was it ever discharged more 
freely than on these Transvaal Boers. He made a formal 
representation of his losses both to the Cape and Home 
authorities, but never received a farthing of compensa- 
tion. The subsequent history of the Transvaal Republic 
will convince many that Livingstone was not far from 
the truth in his estimate of the character of the free and 
independent Boers. 

But while perfectly sincere in his indignation over 
the treatment of the natives and his own losses, his 
playful fancy could find a ludicrous side for what con- 
cerned himself, and grim enjoyment in showing it to his 
friends. "Think," he writes to his friend Watt, "think 
of a big fat Boeress drinking coffee out of my kettle, and 
then throwing her tallowy corporeity on my sofa, or 
keeping her needles in my wife's writing-desk ! Ugh ! 
and then think of foolish John Bull paying so many 
thousands a year for the suppression of the slave-trade, 
and allowing Commissioner Aven to make treaties with 
Boors who carry on the slave-trade. . . . The Boers are 
mad with rage against me because my people fought 
bravely. It was I, they think, who taught them to 
shoot Boers. Fancy your reverend friend teaching the 
young idea how to shoot Boers, and praying for a blessing 
on the work of his hands ! " 

In the same spirit he writes to his friend Moore : — 

" I never knew I was so rich until I recounted up the different 
articles that were taken away. They cannot be replaced in this 
country under £300. .Many things brought to our establishment by 



136 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. vii. 

my better-half were of considerable value. Of all I am now lightened, 
and they want to ease me of my head. . . . The Boers kill the blacks 
without compunction, and without provocation, because they believe 
they have no souls. . . . Viewing the dispensation apart from the 
extreme wickedness of the Boers, it seemed a judgment on the blacks 
for their rejection of the gospel. They have verily done despite unto 
the Spirit of grace. . . . Their enmity was not manifested to us, but 
to the gospel. I am grieved for them, and still hope that the good 
seed will yet vegetate." 1 

But while he could relax playfully at the thought of 
the desolation at Kolobeng, he knew how to make it the 
occasion likewise of high resolves. The Boers, as he 
wrote the Directors, were resolved to shut up the interior. 
He was determined, with God's help, to open the country. 
Time would show which would be most successful in 
resolution, — they or he. To his brother-in-law he wrote 
that he would open a path through the country, or perish. 

As for the contest with the Boers, we may smile at 
their impotent wrath. It is a singular fact that while 
Sechele still retains the position of an independent chief, 
the republic of the Boers has passed away. It is now 
part of the British Empire. 

The country was so unsettled that for a long time 
Dr. Livingstone could not get guides at Kuruman to go 
with him to Sebituane's. At length, however, he suc- 
ceeded, and leaving Kuruman finally about the end of 

1 This 1 letter to Mr. Moore contains a trait of Livingstone, very trifling in 
the occasion out of which it arose, but showing vividly the nature of the man. 
He had promised to send Mr. Moore's little son some curiosities, but had for- 
gotten when his family went to England. Being reminded of his promise in a post- 
script the little fellow had added to a letter from his father, Livingstone is " over- 
whelmed with shame and confusion of face." He feels he has disappointed the 
boy and forgotten his promise. Again and again Livingstone returns to the 
subject, and feels assured that his young friend would forgive him if he knew 
how much he suffered for his fault. That in the midst of his own overwhelming 
troubles he should feel so much for the disappointment of a little heart in England 
shows how terrible a thing it was to him to cause needless pain, and how pro- 
foundly it distressed him to seem forgetful of a promise. Years afterwards he 
wrote that he had brought an elephant's tail for Henry, but one of the men stole 
all the hairs and sold them. He had still a tusk of a hippopotamus for him, and 
a tooth for his brother, but he had brought no curiosities, for he could scarcely 
get along himself. 



1S52-53.] FROM THF CAPE TO LINYANTI. 137 

December 1852, in company with George Fleming, Mr. 
JiutherfoorcTs trader, he set out in a new direction, to the 
west of the old. in order to aive a wide berth to the 
Boers. Travelling rapidly he passed through Sebituane's 
country, and in June 1853 arrived at Linyanti, the 
capital of the Makololo. He wrote to his wife that he 
had been very anxious to go to Kolobeng and see with 
his own eyes the destruction wrought by the savages. 
He had a great longing, too, to visit once more the grave 
of Elizabeth, their infant daughter, but he heard that the 
Boers were in the neighbourhood, and were anxious to 
catch him, and he thought it best not to go. Two years 
before, he had been at Linyanti with Mr. Oswell. Many 
details of the new journey are given in the Missionary 
Travel*, which it is unnecessary to repeat. It may be 
enough to state that he found the country flooded, and 
that on the way it was no unusual thing for him to be 
wet all day, and to walk through swamps, and water 
three or four feet deep. Trees, thorns and reeds offered 
tremendous resistance, and he and his people must have 
presented a pitiable sight when forcing their way through 
reeds with cutting edges. " With our own hands all 
raw and bloody, and knees through our trousers, we at 
length emerged." It was a happy thought to tear his 
pocket-handkerchief into two parts and tie them over 
his knees. "I remember," he says in his Journal, re- 
ferring to last year's journey, " the toil which our 
friend Oswell endured on our account. He never spared 
himself." It is not to be supposed that his guides were 
happy in such a march; it required his tact stretched 
to its very utmost to prevent them from turning 
back. "At the Malopo," he writes to his wife, "there 
were other dangers besides. When walking before the 
u in the morning twilight, I observed a lioness 
about fifty yards from me, in the squatting way they 
walk when going to spring. She was followed by a very 



i 3 8 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. vii. 

large lion, but seeing the wagon, she turned back." 
Though he escaped fever at first, he had repeated attacks 
afterwards, and had to be constantly using remedies 
against it. The unhealthiness of the region to Europeans 
forced itself painfully on his attention, and made him 
wonder in what way God would bring the light of the 
gospel to the poor inhabitants. As a physician his mind 
was much occupied with the nature of the disease, and 
the way to cure it. If only he could discover a remedy 
for that scourge of Africa, what an invaluable boon would 
he confer on its much-afflicted people ! 

" I would like," he says in his Journal, " to devote a portion of my 
life to the discovery of a remedy for that terrible disease, the African 
fever. 1 I would go into the parts where it prevails most, and try to 
discover if the natives have a remedy for it. I must make many 
inquiries of the river people in this quarter. What an unspeakable 
mercy it is to be permitted to engage in this most holy and honourable 
work ! What an infinity of lots in the world are poor, miserable and 
degraded compared with mine ! I might have been a common soldier, 
a day-labourer, a factory operative, a mechanic, instead of a missionary. 
If my faculties had been left to run riot or to waste as those of so 
many young men, I should now have been used up, a dotard, as many 
of my school-fellows are. I am respected by the natives, their kind 
expressions often make me ashamed, and they are sincere. So much 
deference and favour manifested without any effort on my part to 
secure it comes from the Author of every good gift. I acknowledge 
the mercies of the great God with devout and reverential gratitude." 

Dr. Livingstone had declined a considerate proposal 
that another missionary should accompany him, and 
deliberately resolved to go this great journey alone. He 
knew in fact that except Mr. Moffat, who was busy with 
his translation of the Bible, no other missionary would 
go with him. 2 But in the absence of all to whom he 
could unburden his spirit, we find him more freely than 

1 Livingstone's Remedy for African fever. See Appendix No. II. , p. 479. 

2 Dr. Moffat informs us that Livingstone's desire for his company was most 
intense, and that he pressed him in such a way as would have been irresistible, 
had his going been possible. But for his employment in translating, Dr. Moffat 
would have gone with all his heart. 



l8 52-53j FROM THE CAPE TO L1NYANTL 139 

usual pouring out his feelings in his Journal, and it is 
hut an act of justice to himself that it should be made 
known how his thoughts were running with so bold and 
difficult an undertaking before him : — 

" 2Sih September 185 2. — Am I on my way to die in Sebituane's 
country? Have I seen the end of my wife and children] The 
breaking up of all my connections with earth, leaving this fair and 
beautiful world, and knowing so little of it 1 I am only learning the 
alphabet of it yet, and entering on an untried state of existence. 
Following Him who has entered in before me into the cloud, the veil, 
the Hades, is a serious prospect. Do we begin again in our new 
existence to learn much by experience, or have we full powers 1 My 
soul, whither wilt thou emigrate 1 Where wilt thou lodge the first 
night after leaving this body I Will an angel soothe thy flutterings, 
for sadly flurried wilt thou be in entering upon eternity? Oh! if 
Jesus speak one word of peace, that will establish in thy breast an ever- 
lasting calm ! Jesus, fill me with Thy love now, and I beseech 
Thee, accept me, and use me a little for Thy glory. I have done 
nothing for Thee yet, and I would like to do something. do, do, 
I beseech Thee, accept me and my service, and take Thou all the 
glory. . . ." 

" 23'/ January 1853. — I think much of my poor children. . . ." 

"4/// February 1853. — I am spared in health, while all the com- 
pany have been attacked by the fever. If God has accepted my 
Bervice, then my life is charmed till my work is done. And though I 
pass through many dangers unscathed while working the work given j 
me to do, when that is finished, some simple thing will give me my 
quietus. Death is a glorious event to one going to Jesus. Whither 
does the soul wing its way 1 What does it see first % There is 
something sublime in passing into the second stage of our immortal 
lives if washed from our sins. But, oh! to be consigned to ponder 
over all our Bins with memories excited, every scene of our lives held 
up as in a mirror before our eyes, and we looking at them and waiting 
for the day of judgment I " 

" 17th February. — It is not the encountering of difficulties and 
dangers in obedience to the promptings of the inward spiritual life, 
which constitutes tempting of God and Providence; but the acting 
without faith, proceeding on our own errands with no previous con- 
victions of duty, and no prayer for aid and direction." 

"22'/ May. — I will place no value on anything I have or maj 
cept in relation to the kingdom of Christ. If anything will 
advance the interests of that kingdom, it shall be given away or kept, 
only as by giving or keeping of it i shall most promote the glory of Him 
to whom 1 owe all my hopes in time and eternity. May grace and 
strength Sufficient to enable me to adhere faithfully to this resolution; 



i 4 o DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. vii. 

be imparted to me, so that in truth, not in name only, all my interests 
and those of my children may be identified with His cause. . . . 
I will try and remember always to approach God in secret with as 
much reverence in speech, posture, and behaviour as in public. 
Help me, Thou who knowest my frame and pitiest as a father his 
children." 

When Livingstone reached the Makololo, a change 
had taken place in the government of the tribe. Ma- 
in ochisane, the daughter of Sebituane, had not been 
happy in her chiefdom, and had found it difficult to get 
along with the number of husbands whom her dignity as 
chief required her to maintain. She had given over the 
government to her brother Sekeletu, a youth of eighteen, 
who was generally recognised, though not without some 
reluctance, by his brother Mpepe. Livingstone could not 
have foreseen how Sekeletu would receive him, but to his 
great relief and satisfaction he found him actuated by the 
most kindly feelings. He found him, boy as he was, full 
of vague expectations of benefits, marvellous and mira- 
culous, which the missionaries were to bring. It was 
Livingstone's first work to disabuse his mind of these 
expectations, and let him understand that his supreme 
object was to teach them the way of salvation through 
Jesus Christ. To a certain extent Sekeletu was inter- 
ested in this : — 

" He asked many sensible questions about the system of Christianity 
in connection with the putting away of wives. They are always 
furnished with objections sooner than with the information. I com- 
mended him for asking me, and will begin a course of instruction 
to-morrow. He fears that learning to read will change his heart, and 
make him put away his wives. Much depends on his decision. May 
God influence his heart to decide aright I" 

Two days after Livingstone says in his Journal : — 

" 1st June. — The chief presented eight large and three small tusks 
this morning. I told him and his people I would rather see them 
trading than giving them to me. They replied that they would get 
trade with George Fleming, and that, too, as soon as he was well ; but 
these they gave to their father, and they were just as any other 



iS 5 2- 5 3-] FROM THE CAPE TO LINYAXTL 141 

present. They asked after the gun-medicine, believing that now my 
heart would be warm enough to tell them anything, but I could not 
tell them a lie. I offered to show Sekeletu how to shoot, and that 
was all the medicine I knew. I felt as if I should have been more 
pleased had George been amassing ivory than I. Yet this may be an 
indispensable step in the progress towards opening the west. I must 
have funds ; and here they come pouring in. It would be impossible 
to overlook His providence who has touched their hearts. I have 
used no undue influence. Indeed I have used none directly for the 
purpose. Kindness shown has been appreciated here, while much 
greater kindness shown to tribes in the south has resulted in a belief 
we missionaries must be fools. I do thank my God sincerely for His 
favour, and my hearty prayer is that He may continue it, and make 
whatever use He pleases of me, and may He have mercy on this 
people !" 

Dr. Livingstone was careful to guard against the 
supposition that he allowed Sekeletu to enrich him with- 
out recompence, and in his Journal he sets down a list of 
the various articles presented by himself to the chief, 
including three goats, some fowls, powder, wire, flints, 
percussion caps, an umbrella and a hat, the value of the 
whole being £31, lGs. When Sekeletu knew Dr. Living- 
stone's plans, he undertook that he should be provided 
with all requisites for his journey. But he was most 
anxious to retain him, and for some time would not let 
liim go. Livingstone had fascinated him. Sekeletu said 
that he had found a new father. And Livingstone 
pondered the possibility of establishing a station here. 
But the fever, the fever! could he bring his family? He 
must ]>;os on and look for a healthier spot. His desire 
was to proceed to the country of the Barotse. At length, 
on the 16th June, Sekeletu gives liis answer: — 

"The chief has acceded to my request to proceed to Barotse and 
see tin- country. I told him my heart was sore, because having left 
my family to explore his land, ami, if possible, find a suitable location 
for a mission, 1 could not succeed, because detained by him here. He 
- will take me with him. He does not like to part with me at 
all. He is obliged to consult with those who gave their opinion 
Igainsl my Leaving. J5ut it is certain I am permitted to go. Thanks 
be to (oh! for influencing their hearts !" 



142 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. vii. 

Before we set out with the chief on this journey, 
it will be well to give a few extracts from Livingstone's 
Journal, showing how unwearied were his efforts to teach 
the people : — 

"Banks of Chobe, Sunday, May 15th. — Preached twice to about 
sixty people. Very attentive. It is only divine power which can 

enlighten dark minds as these The people seem to receive 

ideas on divine subjects slowly. They listen, but never suppose that 
the truths must become embodied in actual life. They will wait until 
the chief becomes a Christian, and if he believes, then they refuse to 
follow, — as was the case among the Bakwains. Procrastination seems 
as powerful an instrument of deception here as elsewhere." 

"Sunday, 12th June. — A good and very attentive audience. We 
introduce entirely new motives, and were these not perfectly adapted 
for the human mind and heart by their divine Author, we should have 
no success." 

li Sunday, 19th June. — A good and attentive audience, but immedi- 
ately after the service I went to see a sick man, and when I returned 
towards the Kotla, I found the Chief had retired into a hut to drink 
beer ; and, as the custom is, about forty men were standing singing to 
him, or, in other words, begging beer by that means. A minister who 
had not seen so much pioneer service as I have done would have been 
shocked to see so little effect produced by an earnest discourse con- 
cerning the future judgment, but time must be given to allow the 
truth to sink into the dark mind, and produce its effect. The earth 
shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord — that is 
enough. We can afford to work in faith, for Omnipotence is pledged 
to fulfil the promise. The great mountains become a plain before the 
Almighty arm. The poor Bushman, the most degraded of all Adam's 
family, shall see His glory, and the dwellers in the wilderness shall 
bow before Him. The obstacles to the coming of the Kingdom are 
mighty, but come it will for all that : — 

1 Then let us pray that come it may, 

As come it will for a' that, 
That man to man the world o'er 
Shall brothers be for a' that.' 

"The hard and cold unbelief which distinguished the last century, 
and Avhich is still aped by would-be philosophers in the present, would 
sneer at our faith, and call it superstition, enthusiasm, etc. But were 
we believers in human progress and no more, there must be a glorious 
future for our world. Our dreams must come true, even though they 
are no more than dreams. The world is rolling on to the golden 

age Discoveries and inventions are cumulative. Another 

century must present a totally different aspect from the present. And 
when we view the state of the world and its advancing energies, in the 



lS 5--53-] FROM THE CAPE TO LINYANTI. 143 

light afforded by childlike, or call it childish, faith, we see the earth 
filling with the knowledge of the glory of God, — ay, all nations 
seeing His glory and bowing before Him whose right it is to reign. 

Our work and its fruits are cumulative. We work towards another 
state of things. Future missionaries will be rewarded by conversions 
for every sermon. AW arc their pioneers and helpers. Let them not 
forget the watchmen of the night — us, who worked when all was 
gloom, and no evidence of success in the way of conversion cheered 
our paths. They will doubtless have more light than we, hut we 
served our Master earnestly, and proclaimed the same gospel as they 
will do. - ' 

Of the services which Livingstone held with the people, 
we have the following picture : — 

" When I stand up, all the women and children draw near, and, 
having ordered silence, I explain the plan of salvation, the goodness 
1 in sending His Son to die, the confirmation of His mission by 
miracles, the last judgment or future state, the evil of sin, God's 
commands respecting it, etc. ; always choosing one subject only for an 
address, and taking care to make it short and plain, and applicable to 
them. This address is listened to with great attention, by most of 
the audience. A short prayer concludes the service, all kneeling down, 
and remaining so till told to rise. At first we have to enjoin on the 
women who have children to remain sitting, for when they kneel, they 
Bqueeze their children, and a simultaneous skirl is set up by the whole 
troop of youngsters, who make the prayer inaudible." 

When Livingstone and Sekeletu had gone about 
sixty miles on the way to the Barotse, they encountered 
Mpepe, Sekeletu's half-brother and secret rival. It 
turned out that Mpepe had a secret plan for killing 
Sekeletu, and that three times on the day of their 
ting that plan was frustrated by apparently acciden- 
tal causes. On one of these occasions, Livingstone, by 

in-' Sekeletu, prevented him from being speared. 
Mpepe's treachery becoming known, he was arrested by 

letu's people, and promptly put to death. The 
episode was not agreeable, but it illustrated savage 
life. It turned out that Mpepe favoured the slave- 

1, and was closely engaged with certain Portuguese 
traders in intrigues for establishing and extending it. 
J lad S.-kelein been killed. Livingstone's enterprise would 



144 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. vii. 

certainly have been put an end to, and very probably 
likewise Livingstone himself. 

The. party, numbering about one hundred and sixty, 
proceeded up the beautiful river which on his former visit 
Livingstone had first known as the Sesheke, but which 
was called by the Barotse, the Liambai or Leeambye. 
The term means "the large river," and Luambeji, Luam- 
besi, Ambezi, Yimbezi, and Zambezi are names applied to 
it at different parts of its course. In the progress of their 
journey they came to the town of the father of Mpepe, 
where, most unexpectedly, Livingstone encountered a 
horrible scene. Mpepe's father and another headman 
were known to have favoured the plan for the murder 
of Sekeletu, and were therefore objects of fear to the 
latter. When all were met, and Mpepe's father was 
questioned why he did not stop his son's proceedings, 
Sekeletu suddenly sprang to his feet and gave the two 
men into custody. All had been planned beforehand. 
Forthwith they were led away, surrounded by Sekeletu s 
warriors, all dream of opposition on their part being as 
useless as interference would have been on Livingstone's. 
Before his eyes he saw them hewn to pieces with axes, 
and cast into the river to be devoured by the alligators. 
Within two hours of their arrival the whole party had 
left the scene of this shocking tragedy, Livingstone 
being so horrified that he could not remain. He did 
his best to show the sin of blood-guiltiness, and bring 
before the j:>eople the scene of the Last Judgment, 
which was the only thing that seemed to make any 
impression. 

Farther on his way, he had an interview with 
Ma-mochisane, the daughter of Sebituane who had re- 
signed in favour of Sekeletu. He was the first white 
man she had ever seen. The interview was pleasing and 
not without touches of womanly character ; the poor 
woman had felt an emharras de richesses in the matter of 



lS 5^53-] FROM THE CAPE TO LINYAXTI. 145 

husbands, and was very uncomfortable when married 
women complained of her taking their spouses from them. 
Her soul recoiled from the business; she wished to have 
a husband of her own and to be like other women. 

So anxious was Livingstone to find a healthy locality, 
that, leaving Sekele'tu, he proceeded to the farthest limit of 
the Barotse country, but no healthy place could be found. 
It is plain, however, that in spite of all risk, and much as 
he suffered from the fever, he was planning, if no better 
place could be found, to return himself to Linyanti and be 
the Makololo missionary. Not just immediately, however. 
Having failed in the first object of his journey — to find a 
healthy locality — he was resolved to follow out the second, 
and endeavour to discover a highway to the sea. First 
lie would try the west coast, and the point for which he 
would make was St. Paul de Loanda. He might have 
found a nearer way, but a Portuguese trader whom he 
had met, and from whom he had received kindness, was 
going by that route to St. Philip de Benguela. The 
trader was implicated in the slave-trade, and Livingstone 
knew what a disadvantage it would be either to accompany 
or to follow him. He therefore returned to Linyanti ; 
and there began preparations for the journey to Loanda 
on the coast. 

During the time thus spent in the Barotse country, 
Livingstone saw heathenism in its most unadulterated 
form, it was a painful, loathsome, and horrible spectacle. 
His views of the Fall and of the corruption of human 
nature were certainly not lightened by the sight. In his 
Journal he is constantly letting fall expressions of weari- 
at the noise, the excitement, the wild savage dancing, 
the heartless cruelty, the utter disregard of feelings, the 
destruction of children, the drudgery of the old people, 
the atrocious murders with which he was in contact. 
Occasionally he would think of other scenes of travel; if 
a friend, for example, were going to Palestine, he would 

K 



146 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. vii. 

say how gladly he would kiss the dust that had been 
trod by the Man of Sorrows. One day a poor girl comes 
hungry and naked to the wagons, and is relieved from 
time to time ; then disappears to die in the woods of 
starvation or be torn in pieces by the hyenas. Another 
day, as he is preaching, a boy, walking along with his 
mother, is suddenly seized by a man, utters a shriek as if 
his heart had burst, and becomes, as Livingstone finds, a 
hopeless slave. Another time, the sickening sight is a 
line of slaves attached by a chain. That chain haunts 
and harrows him. 

Amid all his difficulties he patiently pursued his work 
as missionary. Twice every Sunday he preached, usually 
to good audiences, the number rising on occasions so high 
as a thousand. It was a great work to sow the good seed 
so widely, where no Christian man had ever been, pro- 
claiming every Lord's Day to fresh ears the message of 
Divine love. Sometimes he was in great hopes that a 
true impression had been made. But usually, whenever 
the service was over, the wild savage dance with all its 
demon noises succeeded, and the missionary could but 
look on and sigh. So ready was he for labour that when 
he could get any willing to learn, he commenced teaching 
them the alphabet. But he was continually met by the 
notion that his religion was a religion of medicines, and 
that all the good it could do was by charms. Intellectual 
culture seemed indispensable to dissipate this inveterate 
superstition regarding Christian influence. 

A few extracts from his Journal in the Barotse country 
will more vividly exhibit his state of mind : — 

" 27 th August 1853. — The more intimately I become acquainted 
with barbarians, the more disgusting does heathenism become. It is 
inconceivably vile. They are always boasting of their fierceness, yet 
dare not visit another tribe for fear of being killed. They never visit 
anywhere but for the purpose of plunder and oppression. They never 
go anywhere but with a club or spear in hand. It is lamentable to 
see those who might be children of God, dwelling in peace and love, 



1852-53.] FROM THE CAPE TO LINYANTI. 147 

so utterly the children of the devil, dwelling in fear and continual 
irritation. They bestow honours and flattering titles on me in con- 
fusing profusion. All from the least to the greatest call me Father, 
Lord, etc, and bestow food without any recompence, out of pure 
kindness. They need a healer. May God enable me to be such to 
them. . . . 

" Zlst August. — The slave-trade seems pushed into the very centre 
of the continent from both sides. It must be profitable. . . . 

"September 25, Sunday. — A quiet audience to-day. The seed 
being sown, the least of all seeds now, but it will grow a mighty tree. 
It is as it were a small stone cut out of a mountain, but it will fill the 
whole earth. lie that believeth shall not make haste. Surely if 
(J< nl can bear with hardened impenitent sinners for thirty, forty, or fifty 
years, waiting to be gracious, we may take it for granted that His is 
the best way. He could destroy His enemies, but He waits to be 
gracious. To become irritated with their stubbornness and hardness 
of heart is ungodlike. . . . 

" \3th October. — Missionaries ought to cultivate a taste for the 
beautiful. We are necessarily compelled to contemplate much moral 
imparity and degradation. We are so often doomed to disappoint- 
ment. We are apt to become either callous or melancholy, or, if 
preserved from these, the constant strain on the sensibilities is likely 
to injure the bodily health. On this account it seems necessary to 
cultivate that faculty for the gratification of which God has made such 
universal provision. See the green earth and blue sky, the lofty 
mountain and the verdant valley, the glorious orbs of day and night, 
and the starry canopy with all their celestial splendour, the graceful 
flowers so chaste in form and perfect in colouring. The various 
forms of animated life present to him whose heart is at peace with 
God through the blood of His Son an indescribable charm. He sees 
in the calm beauties of nature such abundant provision for the welfare 
of humanity and animate existence. There appears on the quiet 
repose of earth's scenery the benignant smile of a Father's love. The 
Bciences exhibit such wonderful intelligence and design in all their 
various ramifications, some time ought to be devoted to them before 
_ing in missionary work. The heart may often be cheered by 
observing the operation of an ever-present intelligence, and we may 
feel that we are leaning on His bosom while living in a world clothed 
in beauty, and robed with the glorious perfections of its maker and 
preserver. We must feel that there is a Governor among the nations 
who will bring all His plans with respect to our human family to a 
glorious consummation. He who stays his -mind on his ever-present, 
nergetic God, will not fret himself because of evil-doers. Ho 
that believeth shall not make haste." 

" 26th October. — 1 have not vet met with a beautiful woman among 
the black people, and I have -ecu many thousands in a great variety 
of tribes. I have seen a \\-\v who might be called passable, but none 



148 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. vii. 

at all to be compared to what one may meet among English servant- 
girls. Some beauties are said to be found among the Caffres, but 
among the people I have seen I cannot conceive of any European being- 
captivated with them. The whole of my experience goes towards 
proving that civilisation alone produces beauty, and exposure to the 
weather and other vicissitudes tend to the production of deformation 
and ugliness. . . . 

" 28th October. — The conduct of the people whom we have brought 
from Kuruman shows that no amount of preaching or instruction will 
insure real piety. . . . The old superstitions cannot be driven out of 
their minds by faith implanted by preaching. They have not vanished 
in either England or Scotland yet, after the lapse of centuries of 
preaching. Kuruman, the entire population of which amounted in 
1853 to 638 souls, enjoys and has enjoyed the labours of at least two 
missionaries, — four sermons, two prayer-meetings, infant schools, adult 
schools, sewing schools, classes, books, etc., and the amount of visible 
success is very gratifying, a remarkable change indeed from the former 
state of these people. Yet the dregs of heathenism still cleave fast to 
the minds of the majority. They have settled deep down into their 
souls, and one century will not be sufficient to elevate them to the 
rank of Christians in Britain. The double influence of the spirit of 
commerce and the gospel of Christ has given an impulse to the civi- 
lisation of men. The circulation of ideas and commodities over the 
face of the earth, and the discovery of the gold regions have given 
enhanced rapidity to commerce in other countries, and the diffusion of 
knowledge. But what for Africa 1 God will do something else for it ; 
something just as wonderful and unexpected as the discovery of gold" 

It needs not to be said that his thoughts were very 
often with his wife and children. A tender letter to the 
four little ones shows that though some of them might 
be beginning to forget him, their names were written 
imperishably on his heart : — 

" SekeUhis Toivn, IAnyanti, 2d October. — My dear Robert, Agnes, 
and Thomas and Oswell, — Here is another little letter for you 
all. I should like to see you much more than write to you, and 
speak Avith my tongue rather than with my pen ; but we are. far from 
each other — very, very far. Here are Seipone, and Meriye and others 
who saw you as the first white children they ever looked at. Meriye 
came the other day and brought a round basket for Nannie. She 
made it of the leaves of the palmyra. Others put me in mind of you 
all by calling me Rananee, and Rarobert, and there is a little Thomas 
in the town, and when I think of you I remember, though I am far 
off, Jesus, our good and gracious Jesus, is ever near both you and me, 
and then I pray to Him to bless you and make you good. 



l8 5 2 -53-] FROM THE CAPE TO LIXYAXTI. 149 

" He is ever near. Remember this if you feel angry or naughty. 
- is near you, and sees you, and He is so good and land. When 
He was among men, those who heard Him speak said, ' Never man 
spake like this man,' and we now say, 'Never did man love like Him.' 
You see little Zouga is carried on mamma's bosom. You are taken 
Care of by Jesus with as much care as mamma takes of Zouga. He is 
always watching you and keeping you in safety. It is very bad to sin, 
to do any naughty things, or speak angry or naughty words before 
Him. 

" My dear children, take Him as your Guide, your Helper, your 
Friend, and Saviour through life. AY hatever you are troubled about 
a>k Him to keep you. Our God is good. "We thank Him that we 
have such a Saviour and Friend as He is. Now you are little, but you 
will not always be so, hence you must learn to read, and write, and 
work. All clever men can both read and write, and Jesus needs 
clever men to do His work. "Would you not like to work for Him 
among men 1 Jesus is wishing to send His gospel to all nations, and 
He needs clever men to do this. "Would you like to serve Him 1 ? 
Well, you must learn now, and not get tired learning. After some 
time you will like learning better than playing, but you must play too 
in order to make your bodies strong and be able to serve Jesus. 

" I am glad to hear that you go to the academy. I hope you are 
learning fast. Don't speak Scotch. It is not so pretty as English. 
Is the Tau learning to read with mamma 1 I hope you are all kind to 
mamma. I saw a poor woman in a chain with many others, up at the 
Barotse. She had a little child, and both she and her child were very 
thin. See how kind Jesus was to you. No one can put you in chains 
unless you become bad. If, however, you learn bad ways, beginning 
only by saying bad words or doing little bad things, Satan will have 
you in the chains of sin, and you will be hurried on in his bad ways 
till you are put into the dreadful place which God hath prepared for 
him and all who are like him. Pray to Jesus to deliver you from sin, 
give you new hearts, and make you His children. Kiss Zouga, mamma, 
and each other fur me. — Your ever affectionate father, 

" D. Livingston." 

A letter to his father and other relations at Hamilton, 
30th September 1853, is of a somewhat apologetic and 
explanatory cast. Some of his friends had the notion 
that lie should have settled somewhere, " preaching the 
simple gospel," and converting people by every sermon : 

" You see what they make of the gospel, and my conversation on 
it, in which my inmost heart yearned for their conversion. Many 
now think Jesus and Sebituane very much tin- same sort of person. I 

revented by fever and other matters from at once following up 



150 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. vii. 

the glorious object of this journey : viz., while preaching the gospel 
beyond every other man's line of things made ready to our hands, to dis- 
cover a healthy location for a mission, and I determined to improve the 
time by teaching to read. This produced profound deliberation and 
lengthened palavers, and at length the chief told me that he feared 
learning to read would change his heart and make him content with 
one wife like Sechele. He has four. It was in vain I urged that the 
change contemplated made the affair as voluntary as if he would now 
change his mind from four to thirty, as his father had. He could not 
realise the change that would give relish to any other system than the 
present. He felt as the man who is mentioned by Serle as saying he 
would not like to go to heaven to be employed for ever singing and 
praising on a bare cloud without anything to eat or drink. . . . 

" The conversion of a few, however valuable their souls may be, 
cannot be put into the scale against the knowledge of the truth spread 
over the whole country. In this I do and will exult. As in India, we 
are doomed to perpetual disappointment ; but the knowledge of 
Christ spreads over the masses. We are like voices crying in the 
wilderness. We prepare the way for a glorious future in which mis- 
sionaries telling the same tale of love will convert by every sermon. I 
am trying now to establish the Lord's kingdom in a region wider by 
far than Scotland. Fever seems to forbid ; but I shall work for the 
glory of Christ's kingdom — fever or no fever. All the intelligent men 
who direct our society and understand the nature of my movements, 
support me warmly. A few, I understand, in Africa, in writing home, 
have styled my efforts as ' wanderings.' The very word contains a lie 
coiled like a serpent in its bosom. It means travelling without an 
object, or uselessly. I am now performing the duty of writing you. If 
this were termed ' dawdling,' it would be as true as the other. . . . 
I have actually seen letters to the Directors in which I am gravely 
charged with holding the views of the Plymouth Brethren. So very 
sure am I that I am in the path which God's Providence has pointed 
out, as that by which Christ's kingdom is to be promoted, that if the 
Society should object, I would consider it my duty to withdraw from 
it. . . . 

" P.S. — My throat became well during the long silence of travelling 
across the desert. It plagues again now that I am preaching in a 
moist climate." 

Dr. Livingstone now began Lis preparations for the 
journey from Linyanti to Loanda. Sekeletu was kind and 
generous. The road was impracticable for wagons, and 
the native trader, George Fleming, returned to Kuruman. 
The Kuruman guides had not done well, so that Living- 
stone resolved to send them back, and to get Makololo 



lS 5 2 -53-] FROM THE CAPE TO LINYANTL 151 

men instead. Here is the record of his last Sunday at 

Linyanti : — 

u 6th Nov. IS.") 3. — Large audience. Kuruman people don't attend. 
If it is a fashion to be church-going, many are drawn into its observ- 
ance. But placed in other circumstances, the true character comes 
out. This is the case with many Scotchmen. May God so imbue 
my mind with the spirit of Christianity that in all circumstances I 
may show my Christian character ! Had a long conversation with 
Motlube, chiefly on a charm for defending the town or for gun medi- 
cine. They think I know it but will not impart the secret to them. I 
used every form of expression to undeceive him, but to little purpose. 
Their belief in medicine which will enable them to shoot well is very 
strong, and simple trust in an unseen Saviour to defend them against 
such enemies as the Matebele is too simple for them. I asked if a 
little charcoal sewed up in a bag were a more feasible protector than 
He who made all things, and told them that one day they would laugh 
heartily at their own follies in bothering me so much for gun medi- 
cine. A man who has never had to do with a raw heathen tribe has 
yet to learn the Missionary A B C." 

On the 8 th he writes : — 

" Our intentions are to go up the Leeba till we reach the falls, 
then send back the canoe and proceed in the country beyond as best 
we can. Matiamvo is far beyond, but the Cassantse (probably 
Cassange) live on the west of the river. May God in mercy permit me 
to do something for the cause of Christ in these dark places of the 
earth ! May He accept my children for His service, and sanctify them 
for it : My blessing on my wife. May God comfort her ! If my 
watch comes back after I am cut off, it belongs to Agnes. If my 
sextant, it is Robert's. The Paris medal to Thomas. Double-barrelled 
gun to Zouga. Be a Father to the fatherless, and a Husband to the 
widow, for Jesus' sake." 

The probability of his falling was full in his view. 
But the thought was ever in his mind, and ever finding 
expression in letters both to the Missionary and the 
Geographical Societies, and to all his friends, — " Can the 
love of Christ not carry the missionary where the slave- 
trade carries the tinder?" His wagon and goods were 
lefl with Sekeletu, and also the Journal from which those 
extracts are taken. 1 It was well for him that his con- 

1 This Journal is mentioned in the Missionary Travels as having been lost 
(p. 229). Jt warn afterwards recovered. It contains, among other things, some 
important notes on Natural History. 



152 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap, vil 

viction of duty was clear as noonday. A year after, he 
wrote to his father-in-law : — 

"I had fully made up my mind as to the path of duty before 
starting. I wrote to my brother-in-law, Eobert Moffat : ' I shall open 
up a path into the interior, or perish.' I never have had the shadow 
of a shade of doubt as to the propriety of my course, and wish only 
that my exertions may be honoured so far that the gospel may be 
preached and believed in all this dark region." 



l8 53-54-] FROM L1XYAXTI TO LOANDA. 153 



CHAPTER VIII. 

FROM LIXYAXTI TO LOANDA. 
A.D. 1853-1854. 

Difficulties and hardships of journey — His travelling kit — Four books— His 
Journal — Mode of travelling — Beauty of country — Repulsiveness of the 
people — Their religious belief— The negro — Preaching— The magic lantern- 
Loneliness of feeling— Slave-trade— Management of the natives — Danger 
from Chiboque— from another chief— Livingstone ill of fever — At the Quango 
— Attachment of followers — "The good time coming" — Portuguese settle- 
ments — Great kindness of the Portuguese — Arrives at Loanda — Received by 
Mr. Gabriel— His great friendship — No letters — News through Mr. Gabriel — 
Livingstone becomes acquainted with naval officers — Resolves to go back to 
Linyanti and make for East Coast — Letter to his wife— Correspondence with 
Mr. Maelear — Accuracy of his observations — Sir John Herschel — Geographi- 
cal Society award their gold medal — Remarks of Lord Ellesmere. 

The journey from Linyanti to Loanda occupied from the 
1 1th November 1853 to 31st May 1854. It was in many 
ways the most difficult and dangerous that Livingstone 
had yet performed, and it drew out in a very wonderful 
ler the rare combination of qualities that fitted him 
for his work. The route had never been traversed, so far 
aa any trustworthy tradition went, by any European. 
With the except inn of a few of Sekeletu's tusks, the oxen 
needed for carrying, and a trifling amount of coffee, cloth, 
b 1 Is, etc., Livingstone had neither stores of food for his 
party, nor presents with which to propitiate the countless 
tribes of rapacious and suspicious savages that lined his 
path. The Barotse men who accompanied him, usually 
called the "Makololo," though on the whole faithful and 
patient, "the best that ever accompanied me," were a 



154 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. viii. 

burden in one sense, as much as a help in another ; 
chicken-hearted, ready to succumb to every trouble, and 
to be cowed by any chief that wore a threatening face. 
Worse if possible, Livingstone himself was in wretched 
health. During this part of the journey he had constant 
attacks of intermittent fever, 1 accompanied in the latter 
stages of the road with dysentery of the most distressing 
kind. In the intervals of fever he was often depressed 
alike in body and in mind. Often the party were desti- 
tute of food of any sort, and never had they food suitable 
for a fever-stricken invalid. The vexations he encountered 
were of no common kind : at starting, the greater part of 
his medicines was stolen, much though he needed them ; 
in the course of the journey, his pontoon was left behind ; 
at one time, while he was under the influence of fever, 
his riding-ox threw him, and he fell heavily on his head ; 
at another, while crossing a river, the ox tossed him into 
the water ; the heavy rains, and the necessity of wading 
through streams three or four times a day, kept him 
almost constantly wet ; and occasionally, to vary th 3 
annoyance, mosquitos would assail him as fiercely as if 
they had been waging a war of extermination. The most 
critical moments of peril, demanding the utmost coolness 
and most dauntless courage, would sometimes occur during 
the stage of depression after fever ; it was then he had to 
extricate himself from savage warriors, who vowed that 
he must go back, unless he gave them an ox, a gun, or a 
man. The ox he could ill spare, the gun not at all, and 
as for giving the last — a man — to make a slave of, he 
would sooner die. At the best, he was a poor ragged 
skeleton when he reached those who had hearts to feel 
for him, and hands to help him. Had he not been a 
prodigy of patience, faith, and courage, had he not known 
where to find help in all time of his tribulation, he would 
never have reached the haunts of civilised men. 

1 The number of attacks was thirty-one. 



l8 53-54] FROM UNYANTI TO LOAXDA. 155 

His travelling-kit was reduced to the smallest possible 
bulk ; that he minded little, but he was vexed to be 
able to take bo few books. A few days after setting out, 
lie writes in his private Journal : — 

u I feel the want of books in this journey more than anything else. 
A Sichuana Pentateuch, a lined journal, Thomson's Tables, a Nautical 
Almanac, and a Bible, constitute my stock. The last constitutes my 
chief resource; but the want of other mental pabulum is felt severely. 
There is little to interest in the conversation of the people. Loud 
disputes often about the women, and angry altercations in which the 
same string of abuse is used, are more frequent than anything else." 

The " lined journal," of which mention is made here, 
was probably the most wonderful thing of the kind ever 
taken on such a journey. It is a strongly bound quarto 
volume of more than 800 pages, with a lock and key. The 
writing is so neat and clear that it mio-ht almost betaken 
for lithograph. Occasionally there is a page with letters 
beginning to sprawl, as if one of those times had come 
when he tells us that he could neither think nor speak, 
n<»r tell any one's name — possibly not even his own, if he 
had been asked it. He used to jot his observations on 
little note-books, and extend them when detained by 
rain or other causes. 

The journal differs in some material respects from the 

printed record of this journey. It is much more explicit in 

Betting forth the bad treatment he often received. When 

poke of these things to the public, he made constant 

of the mantle of charity, and the record of many a bad 
dvcd and many a bad character is toned down. Naturally 
too, the journal is more explicit on the subject of his own 
troubles, and more free in recording the play of his feel- 
ings. It does not hide the communings of hisheart with 
hi- heavenly Father. It is built up in a random-rubble 
style; here a solemn prayer, in the next line a note of 
lunar observations ; then a dissertation on the habii 
the hippopotamus. Notes bearing on the character, the 
superstitions, and the feelings of the natives are of 



15 6 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. viii. 

frequent occurrence. The explanation is, that Living- 
stone put down everything as it came, reserving the 
arranging and digesting of the whole to a future time. 
The extremely hurried manner in which he was obliged 
to write his Missionary Travels prevented him from ful- 
filling all his plan, and compelled him to content himself 
with giving to the public then what could be put most 
readily together. There are indications that he contem- 
plated in the end a much more thorough use of his 
materials. It is not to be supposed that his published 
volumes contained all that he deemed worthy of publica- 
tion, or that a censure is due to those who reproduce 
some portions which he passed over. As to the neat and 
finished form in which the Journal exists, it was one of 
the many fruits of a strong habit of orderliness and self- 
respect which he had begun to learn at the hand of his 
mother, and which he practised all his life. Even in the 
matter of personal cleanliness and dress he was uniformly 
most attentive in his wanderings among savages. " I 
feel certain," he said, "that the lessons of cleanliness 
rigidly instilled by my mother in childhood helped to 
maintain that respect which these people entertain for 
European ways." 

The course of the journey was first along the river 
Zambesi, as he had gone before with Sekeletu, to its 
junction with the Leeba, then along the Leeba to the 
country of Lobale on the left and Londa on the right. 
Then, leaving the canoes, he travelled on oxback first 
n.n.w. and then w. till he reached St. Paul de Loanda 
on the coast. His Journal, like the published volume, is 
full of observations on the beauty and wonderful capacity 
and productiveness of the country through which he 
passed after leaving the river. Instinctively he would 
compare it with Scotland. A beautiful valley reminds 
him of his native vale of Clyde, seen from the spot 
where Mary Queen of Scots saw the battle of Langside ; 



lS 53-54-] FROM UNYANTJ TO LOAXDA. 157 

only tlie Scottish scene is but a miniature of the much 
greater and richer landscape before him. At the sight of 
the mountains he would feel his Highland blood rushing 
through him, banishing all thoughts of fever and fatigue. 
If only the blessings of the gospel could be spread among 
the people, what a glorious land it would become I But 
alas for the people ! In most cases they were outwardly 
very repulsive. Never seen without a spear or a club in 
their hands, the' men seemed only to delight in plunder 
and slaughter, and yet they were utter cowards. Their 
mouths were full of cursing and bitterness. The execra- 
tions they poured on each other were incredible. In 
very wantonness, when they met they would pelt each 
other with curses, and then perhaps burst into a fit of 
laughter. The women, like the men, went about in 
almost total nudity, and seemed to know no shame. So 
reckless were the chiefs of human life, that a man might 
be put to death for a single distasteful word ; yet some- 
times there weue exhibitions of very tender feeling. The 
headman of a village once showed him, with much 
apparent feeling, the burnt house of a child of his, 
adding, — " She perished in it, and we have all removed 
from our own huts and built here round her, in order to 
weep over her grave/' From some of the people he re- 
ceived great kindness ; others were quite different. Their 
character, in short, was a riddle, and would need to be 
studied more But the prevalent aspect of things was 
both distressing and depressing. If he had thought of it 
continually he would have become the victim of melan- 
choly. It was a characteristic of his large and buoyant 
nature, thai, besides having the resource of spiritual 
thought, he was able to make use of another divine cor- 
rective to such a tendency, to find delightful recreation 
ience, and especially in natural history, and by lliis 
means turn the mind away for a time from the dark 
scenes of man's depravity. 



158 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. viii. 

The people all seemed to recognise a Supreme Being ; 
but it was only occasionally, in times of distress, that they 
paid Him homage. They had no love for Him like that 
of Christians for Jesus— only terror. Some of them, who 
were true negroes, had images, simple but grotesque. 
Their strongest belief was in the power of medicines 
acting as charms. They fully recognised the existence of 
the soul after death. Some of them believed in the meta- 
morphosis of certain persons into alligators or hippopota- 
muses, or into lions. This belief could not be shaken by 
any arguments — at least on the part of man. The 
negroes proper interested him greatly ; they were 
numerous, prolific, and could not be extirpated. He 
almost regretted that Mr. Moffat had translated the 
Bible into Sichuana. That language might die out; but 
the negro might sing, " Men may come and men may go, 
but I go on for ever." 

The incessant attacks of fever from which Livingstone 
suffered in this journey, the continual rain occurring at 
that season of the year, the return of the affection of the 
throat for which he had got his uvula excised, and the 
difficulty of speaking to tribes using different dialects, 
prevented him from holding his Sunday services as 
regularly as before. Such entries in his Journal as the 
following are but too frequent : — 

"Sunday, 19th. — Sick all Sunday and unable to move. Several of 
the people were ill too, so that I could do nothing but roll from side 
to side in my miserable little tent, in which, with all the shade we 
could give it, the thermometer stood upwards of 90° " 

But though little able to preach, Livingstone made 
the most of an apparatus which in some degree compen- 
sated his lack of speech — a magic-lantern which his friend, 
a former fellow-traveller, Mr. Murray, had given him. 
The pictures of Abraham offering up Isaac, and other 
Bible scenes, enabled him to convey important truths in a 
way that attracted the people. It was, he says, the only 



1S53-54] FROM LIXYAXTI TO LOAXDA. 159 

service lie was ever asked to repeat. The only uncom- 
fortable feeling it raised was on the part of those who 
stood on the side where the slides were drawn out. They 
were terrified lest the figures, as they passed along, 
should take possession of them, entering like spirits into 
their bodies ! 

The loneliness of feeling engendered by the absence 
of all human sympathy was trying. " Amidst all the 
beauty and loveliness with which I am surrounded, there 
is still a feeling of want in the soul, — as if something 
more were needed to bathe the soul in bliss than the 
sight of the perfection in working and goodness in plan- 
ning of the great Father of our spirits. I need to be 
purified — fitted for the eternal, to which my soul stretches 
away, in ever returning longings. I need to be made 
more like my blessed Saviour, to serve my God with all 
my powers. Look upon me, Spirit of the living God, 
and supply all Thou seest lacking"." 

It was Livingstone's great joy to begin this long 
journey w T ith a blessed act of humanity, boldly summoning 
a trader to release a body of captives, so that no fewer 
than eighteen souls were restored to freedom. As he 
proceeded he obtained but too plain evidence of the 
extent to which the slave traffic prevailed, uniformly 
finding that wherever slavers had been, the natives 
were more difficult to deal with and more exorbitant 
in their demands. Slaves in chains were sometimes met 
with — a sight which some of his men had never beheld 
before. 

Livingstone's successful management of the natives 
constituted the crowning wonder of this journey. Usually 
the hearts of the chiefs were wonderfully turned to him, 
so that they not only allowed him to pass on, but supplied 
him with provisions. But there were some memorable 
occasions on which he and his company appeared to be 
doomed. When he passed through the Chiboque country, 



160 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. viii. 

the provisions were absolutely spent ; there was no re- 
source but to kill a riding-ox, a part of which, according to 
custom, was sent to the chief. Next day was Sunday. 
After service the chief sent an impudent message de- 
manding much more valuable presents. His people 
collected round Livingstone, brandishing their weapons, 
and one young man all but brought down his sword on 
his head. It seemed impossible to avoid a fight ; yet 
Livingstone's management prevailed — the threatened 
storm passed away. 

Some days after, in passing through a forest in the 
dominions of another chief, he and his people were in 
momentary expectation of an attack. They went to the 
chiefs village and spoke to the man himself; and here, 
on a Sunday, while ill of fever, Livingstone was able to 
effect a temporary settlement. The chief sent them 
some food ; then yams, a goat, fowl, and meat. Living- 
stone gave him a shawl and two bunches of beads, and 
he seemed pleased. During these exciting scenes, 
he felt no fever ; but when they were over, the constant 
wettings made him experience a sore sense of sinking, 
and this Sunday was a day "of perfect uselessness." 
Monday came, and while Livingstone was as low as 
possible, the inexorable chief renewed his demands. " It 
was," he says, " a day of torture." 

" After talking nearly the whole day we gave the old chief an ox, 
but he would not take it but another. I was grieved exceedingly to 
find that our people had become quite disheartened, and all resolved 
to return home. All I can say has no effect. I can only look up to 
God to influence their minds, that the enterprise fail not, now that we 
have reached the very threshold of the Portuguese settlements. I am 
greatly distressed at this change, for what else can be done for this 
miserable land I do not see. It is shut. Almighty God, help, help ! 
and leave not this wretched people to the slave-dealer and Satan. 
The people have done well hitherto, I see God's good influence in it. 
Hope He has left only for a little season. No land needs the gospel 
more than this miserable portion. I hope I am not to be left to fail 
in introducing it." 



1*53-54-] FROM LINYANTI TO LOANDA. 161 

On Wednesday morning, however, final arrangements 
were made, and the party passed on in peace. Ten days 
later, again on a Sunday, they were once more pestered 
by a great man demanding dues. Livingstone replied 
by simply defying him. He might kill him, but God 
would judge. And on the Monday, they left peaceably, 
thankful for their deliverance, some of the men remarking, 
in view of it, that they were " children of Jesus," and 
Livingstone thanking God devoutly for His great mercy. 
Xext day they were again stopped at the river Quango. 
The poor Makololo had parted in vain with their copper 
ornaments, and Livingstone with his razors, shirts, etc. ; 
yet he had made up his mind (as he wrote to the Geogra- 
phical Society afterwards) to part with his blanket and 
coat to get a passage, when a young Portuguese sergeant, 
( Jypriano de Abrao, made his appearance, and the party 
were allowed to pass. 

There were many proofs that, though a poor set of 
fellows, Livingstone's own followers were animated with 
extraordinary regard for him. No wonder ! They had 
seen how sincere he was in saying that he would die 
rather than give any of them up to captivity. And all 
his intercourse with them had been marked by similar 
proofs of his generosity and kindness.' When the ox 
flung him into the river, about twenty of them made a 
simultaneous rush for his rescue, and their joy at his 
safety was very great. 

Amid all that was discouraging in the present aspect 
of tilings, Livingstone could always look forward and 
rejoice in the good time coming : — 

nday, 22d. — This age presents one groat fact in the Providence 
of God: missions are Bentforth to all quarters of the world, — missions 
not of one section of the Church, hut of* all sections, and from nearly 
all Christian nations. It seems very unfair to judge of the suce< 
til.'-.- by the number of conversions which have followed. These are 
rather proofs of tie- missions being of tie- right sort. 'Miry show the 
direction of the .stream which is set in motion by Him who rules the 

L 



i62 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. viii. 

nations, and is destined to overflow the world. The fact which ought 
, to stimulate us above all others is, not that we have contributed to the 
i conversion of a few souls, however valuable these may be, but that we 
are diffusing a knowledge of Christianity throughout the world. The 
number of conversions in India is but a poor criterion of the success 
which has followed the missionaries there. The general knowledge is 
the criterion ; and there, as well as in other lands where missionaries 
in the midst of masses of heathenism seem like voices crying in the 
wilderness — Eeformers before the Eeformation, future missionaries 
will see conversions follow every sermon. We prepare the way for them. 
May they not forget the pioneers who worked in the thick gloom with 
few rays to cheer, except such as flow from faith in God's promises ! 
We work for a glorious future which we are not destined to see — the 
golden age which has not been, but will yet be. We are only morning- 
stars shining in the dark, but the glorious morn will break, the good 
time coming yet. The present mission-stations will all be broken up. 
No matter how great the outcry against the instrumentality which God 
employs for His purposes, whether by French soldiery as in Tahiti, or 
as tawny Boers in South Africa, our duty is onward, onward, proclaim- 
ing God's Word whether men will hear or whether they will forbear. 
A few conversions show whether God's Spirit is in a mission or not. 
No mission which has His approbation is entirely unsuccessful. His 
purposes have been fulfilled, if we have been faithful. ' The nation or 
kingdom that will not serve Thee shall utterly be destroyed ' — this 
has often been preceded by free offers of friendship and mercy, and 
many missions which He has sent in the olden time seemed bad failures. 
Noah's preaching was a failure, Isaiah thought his so too. Poor 
Jeremiah is sitting weeping tears over his people, everybody cursing 
the honest man, and he ill-pleased with his mother for having borne 
him among such a set. And Ezekiel's stiff-necked, rebellious crew 
were no better. Paul said, ' All seek their own, not the things of Jesus 
Christ,' and he knew that after his departure grievous wolves would 
enter in, not sparing the flock. Yet the cause of God is still carried 
on to more enlightened developments of His will and character, and 
the dominion is being given by the power of commerce and population 
unto the people of the saints of the Most High. And this is an ever- 
lasting kingdom, a little stone cut out of a mountain without hands 
which shall cover the whole earth. For this time we work ; may God 
accept our imperfect service !" 

At length Livingstone began to get near the coast, 
reaching the outlying Portuguese stations. He was 
received by the Portuguese gentlemen with great kind- 
ness, and his wants were generously provided for. One 
of them gave him the first glass of wine he had taken in 



1853-54.] FROM LIXYAXTI TO LOANDA. 163 

Africa. Another provided him with a suit of clothing. 
Livingstone invoked the blessing of Him who said, " I 
was naked and ye clothed me." His Journal is profuse 
in its admiration of some of the Portuguese traders, who 
did not like the slave-trade — not they, but had most 
enlightened views for the welfare of Africa. But 
opposite some of these eulogistical passages of the 
Journal there were afterwards added an expressive series 
of marks of interrogation. 

At a later date he saw reason to doubt the sincerity 
of some of the professions of these gentlemen. In- 
genuous and trustful, he could at first think nothing but 
good of those who had shown him such marked attention. 
Afterwards, the inexorable logic of facts proved too 
strong, even for his unsuspecting soul. But the kindness 
of the Portuguese was most genuine, and Livingstone 
never ceased to be grateful for a single kind act. It is 
important to note that whatever he came to think of 
their policy afterwards, he was always ready to make this 
acknowledgment. 

Arrived at Loanda, 31st May 1854, with his twenty- 
seven followers, he was most kindly received by Mr. 
Edmund Gabriel, the British Commissioner for the 
suppression of the slave-trade there, and every thing- 
was done by him for his comfort. The sensation of 
lying on an English bed, after six months lying on the 
ground, was indescribably delightful. Mr. Gabriel was 
equally attentive to him during a long and distressing 
attack of fever and dysentery that prostrated him soon 
after his arrival at Loanda. In his Journal the warmest 
benedictions are poured on Mr. Gabriel, and blessings 
everlasting besought for his soul. One great disappoint- 
ment he suffered at Loanda — not a single letter was 
awaiting him. His friends must have thought he could 
never reach it. This want of letters was a very fre- 
quent trial, especially to one who wrote so many, and 



i6 4 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. vm. 

of such length. The cordial friendship of Mr. Gabriel, 
however, was a great solace. ' He gave him much 
information, not only on all that concerned the slave- 
trade — now more than ever attracting his attention — 
but also on the natural history of the district, and he 
entered, con amove, into the highest objects of his mission. 
Afterwards, in acknowledging to the Directors of the 
London Missionary Society receipt of a letter for Dr. 
Livingstone, intrusted to his care, Mr. Gabriel wrote as 
follows (20th March 1856) : — 

"Dr. Livingstone, after the noble objects he has achieved, most 
assuredly wants no testimony from me. I consult, therefore, the impulse 
of my own mind alone, when I declare that in no respect was my inter- 
course more gratifying to me than in the opportunities afforded to me of 
observing his earnest, active, and unwearied solicitude for the advancement of 
Christianity. Few, perhaps, have had better opportunities than myself 
of estimating the benefit the Christian cause in this country has derived from 
Dr. Livingstone's exertions. It is indeed fortunate for that sacred cause, 
and highly honourable to the London Missionary Society when qualities 
and dispositions like his are employed in propagating its blessings among men. 
Irrespective, moreover, of his laudable and single-minded conduct as a 
minister of the Gospel, and his attainments in making observations which 
have determined the true geography of the interior, the Directors, I am 
sure, will not have failed to perceive how interesting and valuable are 
all the communications they receive from him — as sketches of the social 
condition of the people, and the material, fabrics, and produce of these 
lands. I most fervently pray that the kind Providence, which has 
hitherto carried him through so many perils and hardships, may guide 
him safely to his present journey's end." 

The friendship of Mr. Gabriel was honourable both 
to himself and to Dr. Livingstone. At a very early 
period he learned to appreciate Livingstone thoroughly ; 
he saw how great as well as how good a man he was, and 
felt that to be the friend of such a man was one of the 
highest distinctions he could have. After Livingstone 
left Loanda, and while he was detained within reach of 
letters, a brisk correspondence passed between them ; Mr. 
Gabriel tells him about birds, helps him in his schemes 
for promoting lawful commerce, goes into ecstasies over 
a watch-chain which he had got from him, tells him the 



**53-54.] FROM LINYANTI TO LOANDA. 165 

news of the battle of the Alma in the Crimea, in which his 
friend, Colonel Steele, had distinguished himself, and of 
the success of the Rae Expedition in finding the remains 
of the party under Sir John Franklin. In an official 
communication to Lord Clarendon, after Livingstone had 
left, Mr. Gabriel says, 5th August 1855 : "I am grieved 
to say that this excellent man's health has suffered a good 
deal [on the return journey]. He nevertheless wrote in 
cheerful spirits, sanguine of success in doing his duty 
under the guidance and protection of that kind Providence 
who had always carried him through so many perils and 
hardships. He assures me that since he knew the value 
of Christianity, he has ever wished to spend his life in 
propagating its blessings among men, and adds that the 
same desire remains still as strong .as ever." 

While Livingstone was at Loanda, he made several 
acquaintances among the officers of Her Majesty's navy, 

ged in the suppression of the slave-trade. For many 
of these gentlemen he was led to entertain a high regard. 
Their humanity charmed him, and so did their attention 
to their duties. In his early days, sharing the feeling 
then so prevalent in his class, he had been used to think 
of epaulet ted gentlemen as idlers, or worse — "fruges 

mere nati." Personal acquaintance, as in so many 
other cases, rubbed off the prejudice. In many ways 
Livingstone's mind was broadening. His intensely 
sympathetic nature drew powerfully to all who were 
interested in what was rapidly becoming his own master- 
idea — the suppression of the slave-trade. We shall see 
proofs not a few, how tliis sympathetic affection modified 
some of Ins early opinions, and greatly widened the sphere 
of his charity. 

After all the illness and dangers he had encountered, 
Livingstone might quite honourably have accepted 1 
berth in one of Her Majesty's cruisers, and returned to 
England. But the men who had come with him from 



1 66 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. viii. 

the Barotse country to Loanda had to return, and Living- 
stone knew that they were quite unable to perform the 
journey without him. That consideration determined 
his course. All the risks and dangers of that terrible 
road — the attacks of fever and dysentery, the protracted 
absence of those for whom he pined, were not to be thought 
of when he had a duty to these poor men. Besides, he 
had not yet accomplished his object. He had, indeed, 
discovered a way by which his friend Sekeletu might sell 
his tusks to far greater advantage, and which would thus 
help to introduce a legitimate traffic among the Makololo, 
and expel the slave-trade ; but he had discovered no 
healthy locality for a mission, nor any unexceptional 
highway to the sea for the purpose of general traffic. 
The east coast seemed - to promise better than the west. 
That great river, the Zambesi, might be found to be a 
navigable highway to the sea. He would return to 
Linyanti, and set out from it to find a way to the eastern 
shore. Loaded with kindness from many quarters, and 
furnished with presents for Sekeletu, and for the chiefs 
along the way, Livingstone bade farewell to Loanda on 
20th September 1854. 

The following letter to Mrs. Livingstone, written a 
month afterwards, gives his impressions of Loanda and 
the neighbourhood : — 

" Golungo Alto, 25th October 1854. — It occurs to me, my dearest 
Maiy, that if I send you a note from different parts on the way through 
this colony, some of them will surely reach you ; and if they carry any 
of the affection I bear to you in their composition, they will not fail 
to comfort you. I got everything in Loanda I could desire ; and 
were there only a wagon-path for us, this would be as good an 
opening into the interior as we could wish. I remained rather a 
long time in the city in consequence of a very severe attack of fever 
and dysentery which reduced me very much ; and I remained a short 
time longer than that actually required to set me on my legs, in 
longing expectation of a letter from you. None came, but should any 
come up to the beginning of November, it will come after me by post 
to Cassancre. 



1853-54-] FROM LIXYAXTI TO LOANDA. 167 

" The [Roman Catliolic] Bishop, who was then acting-governor, gave 
a horse, saddle and bridle, a colonel's suit of clothes, etc., for Sekeletu, 
and a dress of blue and red cloth, with a white cotton blanket and 
cap to each of my companions, who are the best set of men I ever 
travelled with except Malatzi and Mebahve. The merchants of 
Loanda gave Sekeletu a large present of cloth, beads, etc., and one of 
them, a Dutchman, gave me an order for ten oxen as provisions on the 
way home to the Zambesi. This is all to encourage the natives to 
trade freely with the coast, and will have a good effect in increasing 
our influence for that which excels everything earthly. Everything 
has, by God's gracious blessing, proved more auspicious than I antici- 
pated. YVe have a most warm-hearted friend in Mr. Gabriel. He 
acted a brother's part, and now writes me in the most affectionate 
manner. I thank God for His goodness in influencing the hearts of 
so many to show kindness, to whom I was a total stranger. The 
Portuguese have all been extremely kind. In coming through the 
coffee plantations I was offered more coffee than I could take or 
needed, and the best in the world. One spoonful makes it stronger 
than three did of that we used. It is found wild on the mountains. 

"Mr. Gabriel came about 30 miles with me, and ever since, 
though 1 spoke freely about the slave-trade, the very gentlemen who 
have been engaged in it, and have been prevented by our ships from 
following it, and often lost much, treated me most kindly in their 
houses, and often accompanied me to the next place beyond them, 
bringing food for all in the way. The common people are extremely 
civil, and a very large proportion of the inhabitants in one district 
called Ambaca can read and write well. They were first taught by 
the Roman Catholic missionaries, and now teach each other so well, it 
is considered a shame in an Ambacista not to be able to write his own 
name at least. But they have no Bibles. They are building a church 
at Ambaca, and another is in course of erection here, though they 
cannot get any priests. May God grant that we may be useful in 
some degree in this field also. . . . Give my love to all the children, 
they will reap the advantage of your remaining longer at home than 
we anticipated. I hope Robert, Agnes and Tom are each learning as 
ts they can. When will they be able to write a letter tome? 
How happy 1 >hall be to meet them and you again! I hope a letter 
f'roiii you may be waiting for me at Zambesi. Love to all the children. 
How tall is Zouga \ Accept the assurance of unabated love. 

" D AY I D L I V I X G STO X. ' ' 



It must not be forgotten that all this time Dr. Living- 
3 making very careful astronomical observations, 
in order to determine bis exact positions, and transmit- 
ting elaborate letters to the Geographical Society. 1 1 is 



1 68 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. viii. 

astronomical observations were regularly forwarded to 
his friend the Astronomer-Royal at the Cape, Mr. Mac- 
lear, for verification and correction. 

Writing to Livingstone on 27th March 1854, with 
reference to some of his earlier observations, after noticing 
a few trifling mistakes, Mr. Maclear says : — " It is both 
interesting and amusing to trace your improvement as an 
observer. Some of your early observations, as you 
remark, are rough, and the angles ascribed to objects 
misplaced in transcribing. But upon the whole I do not 
hesitate to assert that no explorer on record has deter- 
mined his path with the precision you have accomplished." 
A year afterwards, 11th August 1855, but with reference 
to papers received from Sekeletu's place, Mr. Maclear 
details what he had done in reducing his observations, 
preparing abstracts of them, sending them to the authori- 
ties, and publishing them in the Cape papers. He 
informs him that Sir John Herschel placed them before 
the Geographical Society, and that a warm eulogium on 
his labours and discoveries, and particularly on the 
excellent series of observations which fixed his track so 
exactly, appeared in the President's Address. 

Then, referring to his wonderful journey to Loanda, 
and remarkable escapes, he says : — " Nor is your escape 
with life from so many attacks of fever other than miracu- 
lous. Perhaps there is nothing on record of the kind, 
and it can only be explained by Divine interference for a 
good purpose. O may life be continued to you, my dear 
friend ! You have accomplished more for the happiness 
of mankind than has been done by all the African 
travellers hitherto put together." 

Mr. Maclear's reference to Livingstone's work, in 
writing to Sir John Herschel, was in these terms : — " Such 
a man deserves every encouragement in the power of his 
country to give. He has done that which few other travel- 
lers in Africa can boast of — he has fixed his geographical 



1*53-54.] FROM LIXYANTI TO LOAJS'DA. 169 

points with very great accuracy, and yet he is only a 
poor missionary. " 

Nor did Dr. Livingstone pass unrewarded in other 
quarters. In the Geographical Society, his journey to 
Loanda, of which he sent them an account, excited the 
liveliest interest. In May 1855, on the motion of Sir 
Roderick Murchison, the Society testified its appreciation 
by awarding him their gold medal — the highest honour 
they had to bestow. The occasion was one of great 
interest. From the chair, Lord Ellesmere spoke of 
Livingstone's work in science as but subordinate to those 
higher ends which he had ever prosecuted in the true 
spirit of a missionary. The simplicity of his arrangements 
gave additional wonder to the results. There had just 
appeared an account of a Portuguese expedition of African 
exploration from the east coast : — 

"I advert to it," said his Lordship, "to point out the contrast 
between the two. Colonel Monteiro was the leader of a small army — 
some twenty Portuguese soldiers, and a hundred and twenty Caffres. 
The contrast is as great between such military array and the solitary 
grandeur of the missionary's progress, as it is between the actual achieve- 
ments of the two — between the rough knowledge obtained by the Por- 
tuguese of some three hundred leagues of new country, and the scientific 
precision with which the unarmed and unassisted Englishman has left 
his mark on so many important stations of regions hitherto a blank." 

About the time when these words were spoken, Dr. 
Livingstone was at Cabango on his return journey, recover- 
ing from jl very severe attack of rheumatic fever which 
had left him nearly deaf ; besides, he was almost blind in 
consequence of a blow received on the eye from a branch 
of a tree in riding through the forest. Notwithstanding, 
he was engaged in writing a despatch to the Geographical 
Society, through Sir Roderick Murchison, of which more 
anon, reporting progress, and explaining his views of the 
st rupture of Africa. But we must return to Loanda, and 
set out with him and his Makololo in proper form, on 
their homeward tour. 



i 7 o DAVID LIVINGSTONE, [chap. ix. 



CHAPTER IX. 

FROM LOANDA TO QUILIMANE. 

A.D. 1854-1856. 

Livingstone sets out from Loanda — Journey back — Effects of slavery — Letter to 
his wife — Severe attack of fever — He reaches the Barotse country — Day of 
thanksgiving — His efforts for the good of his men —Anxieties of the Moffats 
— Mr. Moffat's journey to Mosilikatse — Box at Linyanti — Letter from Mrs. 
Moffat— Letters to Mrs. Livingstone, Mr. Moffat, and Mrs. Moffat — Kind- 
ness of Sekeletu — New escort — He sets out for the East Coast — Discovers 
the Victoria Falls — The healthy longitudinal ridges — Pedestrianism — Great 
dangers — Narrow escapes — Triumph of the spirit of trust in God — Favourite 
texts — Reference to Captain Maclure's experience — Chief subjects of thought 
— Structure of the continent — Sir Roderick Murchison anticipates his dis- 
covery — Letters to Geographical Society— First letter from Sir Roderick. 
Murchison — Missionary labour — Monasteri es — Protestant mission-stations 
wanting in self-support — Letter to Directors — Fever not so serious an ob- 
struction as it seemed — His own hardships — Theories of mission-work — 
Expansion v. Concentration — Views of a missionary statesman— He reaches 
Tette — Letter to King of Portugal — To Sir Roderick Murchison — Reaches 
Senna — Quilimane — Retrospect — Letter from Directors — Goes to Mauritius 
— Voyage home — Narrow escape from shipwreck in Bay of Tunis —He reaches 
England, Dec. 1856 — News of his father's death. 

Dr. Livingstone left St. Paul de Loanda on 24th 
September 1854, arrived at his old quarters at Linyanti 
on 11th September 1855, set out eastwards on 3d 
November 1855, and reached Quilimane on the eastern 
coast on 20th May 1856. The journey thus occupied a 
year and eight months, and the whole time from his 
leaving the Cape on 8th June 1852 was within a few days 
of four years. The return journey from Loanda to 
Linyanti took longer than the journey outwards. This 
arose from detention of various kinds : 1 the sicknesses of 

1 Dr. Livingstone observed that traders generally travelled ten days in the 
month, and rested twenty, making seven geographical miles a day, or seventy per 
month. In his case in this journey the proportion was generally reversed— twenty 



iS54-5 6 -] FROM LOANDA TO QUILIMANE. 171 

Livingstone and his men, the heavy rains, and in one case, 
at P ungo Andongo, the necessity of reproducing a large 
packet of letters, journals, maps and despatches, which 
he had sent off from Loanda. These were despatched by 
the mail-packet "Forerunner," which unhappily went 
down off Madeira, all the passengers but one being lost. 
But for his promise to the Makololo to return with them 
to their country, Dr. Livingstone would have been him- 
self a passenger in the ship. Hearing of the disaster 
while paying a visit to a very kind and hospitable Portu- 
guese gentleman at Pungo Andongo, on his way back, 
Livingstone remained there some time to reproduce his 
lost papers. The labour thus entailed must have been 
very great, for his ordinary letters covered sheets almost 
as large as a newspaper, and his maps and despatches 
were produced with extraordinary care. 

He found renewed occasion to acknowledge in the 
wannest terms the kindness he received from the Portu- 
guese ; and his prayers that God would reward and bless 
them were not the less sincere that in many important 
matters he could not approve of their ways. 

In traversing the road backwards along which he had 
already come, not many things happened that demand 
special notice in this brief sketch. We find him both in 
his published book and still more in his private Journal 
repeating his admiration of the country, and its glorious 
scenery. This revelation of the marvellous beauty of a 
country hitherto deemed a sandy desert was one of the 
most astounding effects of Livingstones travels on the 
public mind. But the more he sees of the people the 
more profound does their degradation appear, although 
the many instances of remarkable kindness to himself, and 
donal cases of genuine feeling one towards another 

days of travelling and ten of rest, and his rate per day was about ten geographical 

miles or two hundred per month. As he often zigzagged, the geographical mile 
represented considerably more, .^ee letter to Royal Geographical Society, October 
1G, 1856. 



172 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. ix. 

convinced him that there was a something in them not 
quite barbarised. On one point he was very clear — the 
Portuguese settlements among them had not improved 
them. Not that he undervalued the influences which 
the Portuguese had brought to bear on them ; he had 
a much more favourable opinion of the Jesuit missions 
than Protestants have usually allowed themselves to 
entertain, and felt both kindly and respectfully towards 
the padres, who in the earlier days of these settlements 
had done, he believed, a useful work. But the great 
bane of the. Portuguese settlements was slavery. Slavery 
prevented a good example, it hindered justice, it kept down 
improvement. If a settler took a fancy to a good-looking 
girl, he had only to buy her, and make her his concubine. 
Instead of correcting the polygamous habits of the chiefs 
and others, the Portuguese adopted like habits themselves. 
In one thing indeed they were far superior to the Boers — 
in their treatment of the children born to them by native 
mothers. But the whole system of slavery gendered a 
blight which nothing could counteract ; to make Africa a 
prosperous land, liberty must be proclaimed to the captive, 
and the slave system, with all its accursed surround- 
ings, brought conclusively to an end. Writing to Mrs. 
Livingstone from Bashinge, 20th March 1855, he gives 
some painful particulars of the slave-trade. Referring to 
a slave-agent with whom he had been, he says : — 

"This agent is about the same in appearance as Mebalwe, and 
speaks Portuguese as the Griquas do Dutch. He has two chainsful of 
women going to be sold for the ivory. Formerly the trade went from 
the interior into the Portuguese territory ; now it goes the opposite 
way. This is the effect of the Portuguese love of the trade : they can- 
not send them abroad on account of our ships of war on the coast, yet 
will sell them to 'the best advantage. These women are decent-looking, 
as much so as the general run of Kuruman ladies, and were caught 
lately in a skirmish the Portuguese had with their tribe ; and they 
will be sold for about three tusks each. Each has an iron ring round 
the wrist, and that is attached to the chain, which she carries in the 
hand to prevent it jerking and hurting the wrist. How would Nannie 



1854-56.] FROM LOAXDA TO QUILIMANE. 173 

like to be thus treated ? and yet it is only by the goodness of God in 
appointing our lot in different circumstances that we are not similarly 
degraded, for Ave have the same evil nature, which is so degraded in 
them as to allow of men treating them as beasts. 

'* I long for the time when I shall see you again. I hope in God's 
mercy for that pleasure. How are my dear ones % I have not seen any 
equal to them since I put them on board ship. My brave little dears ! 
I only hope God will show us mercy, and make them good too. . . . 

" I work at the interior languages when I have a little time, and 
also at Portuguese, which I like from being so much like Latin. Indeed, 
when I came I understood much that was said from its similarity to 
that tongue, and when I interlarded my attempts at Portuguese with 
Latin, or spoke it entirely, they understood me very well. The Negro 
language is not so easy, but I take a spell at it every day I can. It 
is of the same family of languages as the Sichuana. . . . 

u We have passed two chiefs who plagued us much when going 
down, but now were quite friendly. At that time one of them ordered 
his people not to sell us anything, and we had at last to force our way 
past him. Now he came running to meet us, saluting us, etc., with 
great urbanity. He informed us that he would come in the evening 
to receive a present, but I said unless he brought one he should receive 
nothing. He came in the usual way. The Balonda show the exalted 
position they occupy among men, viz., riding on the shoulders of a 
spokesman in the way little boys do in England. The chief brought 
two cocks and some eggs. I then gave a little present too. The 
alteration in this gentleman's conduct — the Peace Society would not 
credit it — is attributable solely to my people possessing guns. When 
we passed before, we were defenceless. May every needed blessing be 
granted to you and the dear children, is the earnest prayer of your 
ever most affectionate D. Livingston." 

It was soon after the date of this letter that 
Livingstone was struck down by that severe attack of 
rheumatic fever, accompanied by great loss of blood, to 
which reference has already been made. " I got it," he 
writes to Mr. Maclear, "by sleeping in the wet. There 
was no help for it. Every part of a plain was flooded 
ankle-deep. We got soaked by going on, and sodden 
if we stood still." In his former journey he had been 
very desirous to visit Matiamvo, paramount chief of the 
native tribes of Londa, whose friendship would have 
helped him greatly in his journey; but at that time he 
found himself too poor to attempt the enterprise. The 



i74 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. ix. 

loss of time and consumption of goods caused by his 
illness on the way back prevented him from accomplish- 
ing his purpose now. 

Not only was the party now better armed than be- 
fore, but the good name of Livingstone had also become 
better known along the line, and during his return jour- 
ney he did not encounter so much opposition. We 
cannot fail to be struck with his extraordinary care for 
his men. It was his earnest desire to bring them all 
back to their homes, and in point of fact the whole 
twenty-seven returned in good health. How carefully 
he must have nursed them in their attacks of fever, and 
kept them from unnecessary exposure, it is hardly pos- 
sible for strangers adequately to understand. 

On reaching the country of the Barotse, the home of 
most of them, a day of thanksgiving was observed (23d 
July 1855). The men had made little fortunes in Loanda, 
earning sixpence a day for weeks together by helping to 
discharge a cargo of coals or, as they called them, " stones 
that burned." But, like Livingstone, they had to part 
with everything on the way home, and now they were in 
rags ; yet they were quite as cheerful and as fond of 
their leader as ever, and felt that they had not travelled 
in vain. They quite understood the benefit the new 
route would bring in the shape of higher prices for tusks 
and the other merchandise of home. On the thanks- 
giving day — 

" The men decked themselves out in their best, for all had managed 
to preserve their suits of European clothing, which, with their white 
and red caps, gave them a rather dashing appearance. They tried to 
walk like soldiers, and called themselves * my braves.' Having been 
again saluted with salvos from the women, we met the whole popula- 
tion, and having given an address on divine things, I told them we 
had come that day to thank God before them all for His mercy in 
preserving us from dangers, from strange tribes and sicknesses. We 
had another service in the afternoon. They gave us two fine oxen to 
slaughter, and the women have supplied us abundantly with milk and 
meal. This is all gratuitous, and I feel ashamed that I can make no 



1854-56.] FROM LOANDA TO QUILIMANE. 175 

return. My men explain the whole expenditure on the way hither, 
and they remark gratefully : ' It does not matter, you have opened a 
path for us, and we shall have sleep.' Strangers from a distance come 
flocking to see me, and seldom come empty-handed. I distribute all 
presents among my men." 

Several of the poor fellows on reaching home found 
domestic trouble — a wife had proved inconstant and 
married another man. As the men had generally more 
wives than one, Livingstone comforted them by saying 
that they still had as many as he. 

Amid the anxieties and sicknesses of the journey, and 
multiplied subjects of thought and inquiry, Livingstone 
was as earnest as ever for the spiritual benefit of the 
people. Some extracts from his Journal will illustrate his 
efforts in this cause, and the flickerings of hope that 
would spring out of them, dimmed, however, by many 
fears : — 

"August 5, 1855. — A large audience listened attentively to my 
address this morning, but it is impossible to indulge any hopes of such 
feeble efforts. God is merciful, and will deal with them in justice and 
kindness. This constitutes a ground of hope. Poor degraded Africa ! 
A permanent station among them might effect something in time, but 
a considerable time is necessary. Surely some will pray to their 
merciful Father in their extremity, who never would have thought of 
Him but for our visit." 

u August 12. — A very good and attentive audience. Surely all 
■will not be forgotten. How small their opportunity compared to ours 
who have been carefully instructed in the knowledge of divine truth 
tioin our earliest infancy ! The Judge is just and merciful. He will 
deal fairly and kindly with all." 

"October 15. — We had a good and very attentive audience yester- 
day, and I expatiated with great freedom on the love of Christ in 
dying, from his parting address in John xvi. It cannot be these 
precious truths will fall to the ground ; but it is perplexing to observe 
DO effects. They assent to the truth, but 'we don't know,' or 'you 
speak truly' is all the response. In reading accounts of South Sea 
ink-ions it is hard to believe the quickness of the vegetation of the 
good seed, but I know several of the men" [the South Sea missionaries]. 
11 and am sure they are of unimpeachable veracity. In trying to convey 
knowledge, and use the magic lantern, which is everywhere extremely 
popular, though they listen with apparent delight to what is Sfttd, 
questioning them on the following night reveals almost entire ignor- 



176 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. ix. 

ance of the previous lesson. that the Holy Ghost might enlighten 
them ! To His soul-renewing influence my longing soul is directed. 
It is His word, and cannot die." 

The long absence of Livingstone and the want of 
letters had caused great anxiety to his friends. The 
Moffats had been particularly concerned about him, and, 
in 1854, partly in the hope of hearing of him, Mr. Moffat 
undertook a visit to Mosilikatse, while a box of goods 
and comforts was sent to Linyanti to await his return, 
should that ever take place. A letter from Mrs. Moffat 
accompanied the box. It is amusing to read her motherly 
explanations about the white shirts, and the blue waist- 
coat, the woollen socks, lemon juice, quince jam, and tea 
and coffee, some of which had come all the way from 
Hamilton ; but there are passages in that little note 
that make one's heart go with rapid beat : — 

"My dear son Livingston, — Your present position is almost 
too much for my weak nerves to suffer me to contemplate. Hitherto 
I have kept up my spirits, and been enabled to believe that our great 
Master may yet bring you out in safety, for though His ways are often 
inscrutable, I should have clung to the many precious promises made 
in His word as to temporal preservation, such as the 91st and 121st 
Psalms — but have been taught that we may not presume confidently 
to expect them to be fulfilled, and that every petition, however fervent, 
must be with devout submission to His will. My poor sister-in-law 
clung tenaciously to the 91st Psalm, and firmly believed that her dear 
husband would thus be preserved, and never indulged the idea that 
they should never meet on earth. But I apprehend submission was 
wanting. ' If it be Thy will/ I fancy she could not say — and, therefore, 
she was utterly confounded when the news came. 1 She had exercised 
strong faith, and was disappointed. Dear Livingstone, I have always 
endeavoured to keep this in mind with regard to you. Since George 
[Fleming] came out it seemed almost hope against hope. Your having 
got so thoroughly feverised chills my expectations ; still prayer, un- 
ceasing prayer, is made for you. When I think of you my heart will 
go upwards. ' Keep him as the apple of Thine eye/ ' Hold him in the 
hollow of Thy hand/ are the ejaculations of my heart." 

1 Rev. John Smith, missionary at Madras, had gone to Vizagapatam to the 
ordination of two native pastors, and when returning in a small vessel, a storm 
arose, when he and all on board perished. 



1S54-56.] FROM LOAXDA TO QUILIMANE. 177 

In writing from Linyanti to his wife, Livingstone 
makes the best he can of his long detention. She seems 
to have put the matter playfully, wondering what the 
" source of attraction " had been. He says : — 

" Don't know what apology to make you for a delay I could not 
shorten. But as you are a mercifully kind-hearted dame, I expect you 
will write out an apology in proper form, and I shall read it before 
you with as long a face as I can exhibit. Disease was the chief 
obstacle. The repair of the wagon was the ' source of attraction ' in 
Cape Town, and the settlement of a case of libel another ' source of 
attraction.' They tried to engulf me in a law-suit for simply asking 
the postmaster why some letters were charged double. They were so 
marked in my account. I had to pay £13 to quash it. They longed 
to hook me in, from mere hatred to London missionaries. I did not 
remain an hour after I could move. But I do not wonder at your 
anxiety for my speedy return. I am sorry you have been disappointed, 
but you know no mortal can control disease. The Makololo are 
wonderfully well pleased with the path we have already made, and 
if I am successful in going down to Quilimane, that will be still better. 
I have written you by every opportunity, and am very sorry your 
letters have been miscarried." 

To his father-in-law he expresses his warm gratitude 
for the stores. It was feared by the natives that the 
goods were bewitched, so they were placed on an island, 
a hut was built over them, and there Livingstone found 
them on his arrival, a year after ! A letter of twelve 
quarto pages to Mr. Moffat gives his impressions of his 
journey, while another of sixteen pages to Mrs. Moffat, 
explains his "plans," about which she had asked more 
full information. He quiets her fears by his favourite 
texts for the present — " Commit thy way to the Lord," 
and " Lo, lam with you alway;" and his favourite vision 
of the future — the earth full of the knowledge of the 
Lord. He is somewhat cutting at the expense of so- 
called ''missionaries to the heathen, who never march 
into real heathen territory, and quiet their consciences 
by opposing their do-nothingisni to my blundering do- 
Bomethingism ! " He is indignant at the charge made by 
some of his enemies that no good was done among the 

M 



178 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. ix. 

Bakwains. They were, in many respects, a different 
people from before. Any one who should be among the 
Makololo as he had been, would be thankful for the state 
of the Bakwains.. The seed would always bear fruit, but 
the husbandman had need of great patience, and the end 
was sure. 

Sekeletu had not been behaving well in Livingstone's 
absence. He had been conducting marauding parties 
against his neighbours, which even Livingstone's men, 
when they heard of it, pronounced to be "bad, bad." 
Livingstone was obliged to reprove him. A new uniform 
had been sent to the chief from Loanda, with which he 
appeared at church, " attracting more attention than the 
sermon." He continued however to show the same friend- 
ship for Livingstone, and did all he could for him when he 
set out eastwards. A new escort of men was provided, 
above a hundred and twenty strong, with ten slaughter 
cattle, and three of his best riding oxen ; stores of food 
were given, and a right to levy tribute over the tribes 
that were subject to Sekeletu as he passed through their 
borders. If Livingstone had performed these journeys 
with some long-pursed society or individual at his back, 
his feat even then would have been wonderful ; but it be- 
comes quite amazing when we think that he went without 
stores, and owed everything to the influence he acquired 
with men like Sekeletu and the natives generally. His 
heart was much touched on one occasion by the disin- 
terested kindness of Sekeletu. Having lost their way on a 
dark night in the forest, in a storm of rain and lightning, 
and the luggage having been carried on, they had to pass 
the night under a tree. The chiefs blanket had not been 
carried on, and Sekeletu placed Livingstone under it, 
and lay down himself on the wet ground. " If such men 
must perish before the white by an immutable law of 
heaven," he wrote to the Geographical Society (25th 
January 1856), " we must seem to be under the same sort 



1S54-56.] FROM LOANDA TO QUILIMANE. 179 

of terrible necessity in our Caffre wars as the American 
Professor of Chemistry said he was under, when he 
dismembered the man whom he had murdered." 

Again Livingstone sets out on his weary way, un- 
trodden by white man's foot, to pass through unknown 
tribes, whose savage temper might give him his quietus at 
any turn of the road. There were various routes to the 
sea open to him. He chose the route along the Zambesi 
— though the most difficult, and through hostile tribes — 
because it seemed the most likely to answer his desire to 
find a commercial highway to the coast. Not far to the east 
of Linyanti, he beheld for the first time those wonderful 
falls of which he had only heard before, giving an English 
name to them — the first he had ever given in all his 
African journeys, — the Victoria Falls. We have seen 
how genuine his respect was for his Sovereign, and it was 
doubtless a real though quiet pleasure to connect her 
name with the grandest natural phenomenon in Africa. 
This is one of the discoveries 1 that have taken most hold 
on the popular imagination, for the Victoria Falls are like 
a second Niagara, but grander and more astonishing ; 
but except as illustrating his views of the structure of 
Africa, and the distribution of its waters, it had not 
n mch influence, and led to no very remarkable results. 
Right across the channel of the river was a deep fissure 
only eighty feet wide, into which the whole volume of 
the river, a thousand yards broad, tumbled to the depth 
of a hundred feet, 2 the fissure being continued in zigzag 
form for thirty miles, so that the stream had to change 
its course from right to left and left to right, and went 
through the hills boiling and roaring, sending up columns 
of steam, formed by the compression of the water falling 
into its narrow wedge-shaped receptacle. 

A discovery as to the structure of the country, long 

1 Virtually a discovery, though marked in an old map. 

2 Afterwards ascertained by linn to be 1800 yards and .320 feet respectively. 



180 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. ix. 

believed in by him, but now fully verified, was of much 
more practical importance. It had been ascertained by 
him that skirting the central hollow there were two 
longitudinal ridges extremely favourable for settlements, 
both for missions and merchandise. We shall hear much 
of this soon. 

Slowly but steadily the eastward tramp is continued, 
often over ground which was far from favourable for 
walking exercise. " Pedestrianism," said Livingstone, 
" may be all very well for those whose obesity requires 
much exercise ; but for one who was becoming as thin 
as a lath through the constant perspiration caused by 
marching day after day in the hot sun, the only good I 
saw in it was that it gave an honest sort of a man a 
vivid idea of the treadmill." 

When Livingstone came to England, and was writing 
books, his tendency was rather to get stout than thin ; 
and the disgust with which he spoke then of the " beastly 
fat " seemed to show that if for nothing else than to get 
rid of it he would have been glad to be on the tread-mill 
again. In one of his letters to Mr. Maclear he thus 
speaks of a part of this journey : — " It was not likely that 
I should know our course well, for the country there is 
covered with shingle and gravel, bushes, trees, and grass, 
and we were without path. Skulking out of the way of 
villages where we were expected to pay after the purse was 
empty, it was excessively hot and steamy ; the eyes had 
to be always fixed on the ground to avoid being tripped." 

In the course of this journey he had even more 
exciting escapades among hostile tribes than those which 
he'had encountered on the way to Loanda. His serious 
anxieties began when he passed beyond the tribes that 
owned the sovereignty of Sekeletu. At the union of the 
rivers Loangwa and Zambesi, the suspicious feeling regard- 
ing him reached a climax, and he could only avoid the 
threatened doom of the Bazimka (i.e. Bastard Portu- 



iS54-5 6 -] FROM LOAXDA TO QUILIMAXE. 1S1 

gitese) who had formerly incurred the wrath of the chief. 
by showing his bosom, arms, and hair, and asking if the 
Bazimka were like that. Livingstone felt that there was 
clanger in the air. In fact he never seemed in more 
imminent peril : — 

"14fA January 1856. — At the confluence of the Loangwa and 
Zambesi. Thank God for His great mercies thus far. How soon I 
may be called to stand before Him, my righteous judge, I know not. 
All hearts are in His hands, and merciful and gracious is the Lord 
our God. Jesus, grant me resignation to Thy will, and entire 
reliance on Thy powerful hand. On Thy Word alone I lean. But 
wilt Thou permit me to plead for Africa 1 The cause is Thine. 
"What an impulse will be given to the idea that Africa is not open if I 
perish now ! See, Lord, how the heathen rise up against me, as 
they did to Thy Son. I commit my way unto Thee. I trust also in 
Thee that Thou wilt direct my steps. Thou givest wisdom liberally 
to all who ask Thee — give it to me, my Father. My family is Thine. 
They are in the best hands. Oh ! be gracious, and all our sins do 
Thou blot out. 

'A guilty, -weak, and helpless worm, 
On Thy kind arms I fall.' 

Leave me not, forsake me not. I cast myself and all my cares down 
at Thy feet. Thou knowest all I need, for time and for eternity. 

u It seems a pity that the important facts about the two healthy 
longitudinal ridges should not become known in Christendom. Thy 
will be done ! . . . They will not furnish us with more canoes than 
two. I leave my cause and all my concerns in the hands of God, 
my gracious Saviour, the Friend of sinners. 

"Evening. — Felt much turmoil of spirit in view of having all my 
plans lor the welfare of this great region and teeming population 
knocked on tin- head by savages to-morrow. But I read that Jesus 
came and said, 'All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 
(Jo ye therefore, and teach all nations — and lo, / am with you alway, 
even unto the end of the world* It is the word of a gentleman of the 
most sacred and strictest honour, and there is an end on't. I will not 
furtively by night as I intended. It would appear as flight, and 
should such a man as I flee? Nay, verily, I shall take observations for 
latitude and longitude to-night, though they may be the last. I feel 
quite calm now, thank God. 

M lo/// January 1856. — Left bank of Loangwa. The natives of the 
surrounding country collected round us this morning all armed. 
Children and women were sent away, and Mburuma's wife who lives 
here was not allowed to approach, though sin- came some way from 
her village in order to pay me a visit. Only one canoe was lent, 



1 82 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. ix. 

though we saw two tied to the bank. And the part of the river we 
crossed at, about a mile from the confluence, is a good mile broad. 
We passed all our goods first, to an island in the middle, then the 
cattle and men, I occupying the post of honour, being the last to enter 
the canoe. We had, by this means, an opportunity of helping each 
other in case of attack. They stood armed at my back for some time. 
I then showed them my watch, burning-glass, etc. etc., and kept them 
amused till all were over, except those who could go into the canoe 
with me. I thanked them all for their kindness and wished them 
peace." 

Nine days later, they were again threatened by 
Mpende : — 

"23^ January 1856. — At Mpende's this morning at sunrise, a 
party of his people came close to our encampment, using strange cries, 
and waving some red substance towards us. They then lighted a fire 
with charms in it, and departed uttering the same hideous screams as 
before. This is intended to render us powerless, and probably also to 
frighten us. No message has yet come from him, though several 
parties have arrived, and profess to have come simply to see the white 
man. Parties of his people have been collecting from all quarters long 
before daybreak. It would be considered a challenge — for us to move 
down the river, and' an indication of fear and invitation to attack if we 
went back. So we must wait in patience, and trust in Him who has 
the hearts of all men in His hands. To Thee, O God, we look. 
And, oh ! Thou Avho wast the man of sorrows for the sake of poor 
vile sinners, and didst not disdain the thief's petition, remember 
me and Thy cause in Africa. Soul and body, my family and Thy 
cause, I commit all to Thee. Hear, Lord, for Jesus' sake." 

In the entire records of Christian heroism, there are 
few more remarkable occasions of the triumph of the 
spirit of holy trust, than those which are recorded here 
so quietly and modestly. We are carried back to the 
days of the Psalmist : "I will not be afraid often thousand 
of the people that have set themselves against me round 
about." In the case of David Livingstone as of the 
other David, the triumph of confidence was not the less 
wonderful that it was preceded by no small inward 
tumult. Both were human creatures. But in both the 
flutter lasted only till the soul had time to rally its trust 
— to think of God as a living friend, sure to help in time 
of need. And how real is the sense of God's presence ! 



j854-5 6 -] FROM LOANDA TO QU1L1MANE. 1S3 

The mention of the two longitudinal ridges, and of the 
refusal of the people to give more than two canoes, side 
by side with the most solemn appeals, would have been 
incongruous, or even irreverent, if Livingstone had not 
felt that he was dealing with the living God, by whom 
every step of his own career and every movement of his 
enemies were absolutely controlled. 

A single text often gave him all the help he needed : 

" It is singular," he says, " that the very same text which recurred 
to my mind at every turn of my course in life in this country and 
even in England, should be the same as Captain Maclure, the dis- 
coverer of the North-west Passage, mentions in a letter to his sister 
as familiar in his experience : ' Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, 
and lean not to thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknow- 
ledge Him and He shall direct thy steps. Commit thy way unto the 
Lord ; trust also in Him and He shall bring it to pass.' Many more, 
I Lave no doubt, of our gallant seamen feel that it is graceful to 
acknowledge the gracious Lord in whom we live and move and have 
our being. It is an advance surely in humanity from that devilry 
which gloried in fearing neither God, nor man, nor devil, and made 
our wooden walls floating hells." 

His being enabled to reach the sanctuary of perfect 
peace in the presence of his enemies was all the more 
striking if we consider — what he felt keenly — that to 
live among the heathen is in itself very far from favour- 
able to the vigour or the prosperity of the spiritual life. 
•• Travelling from day to day among barbarians," he says 
in his Journal, " exerts a most benumbing effect on the 
religious feelings of the soul." 

Among the subjects that occupied a large share of his 
thoughts in these long and laborious journeys, two appear 
to have been especially prominent : first, the configuration 
of the country; and second, the best way of conducting 
missions, and bringing the people of Africa to Christ. 

The configuration of intertropical South Africa had long 
been with him a subject of earnest study, and now he had 
oome clearly to the conclusion that the middle part was 
a table-land, depressed however in the centre, and flanked 



1 84 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. ix. 

by longitudinal ridges on the east and west ; that origin- 
ally, the depressed centre had contained a vast accumula- 
tion of water, which had found ways of escape through 
fissures in the encircling fringe of mountains, the result 
of volcanic action or of earthquakes. The Victoria Falls 
presented the most remarkable of these fissures, and thus 
served to verify and complete his theory. The great 
lakes in the heart of South Africa were the remains of 
the earlier accumulation before the fissures were formed. 
Lake 'Ngami, large though it was, was but a little fraction 
of the vast lake that had once spread itself over the 
south. This view of the structure of South Africa he 
now found, from a communication which reached him at 
Linyanti, had been anticipated by Sir Roderick Murchison, 
who in 1852 had propounded it to the Geographical 
Society. Livingstone was only amused at thus losing 
the credit of his discovery ; he contented himself with a 
playful remark on his being " cut out " by Sir Roderick. 
But the coincidence of views was very remarkable, and it 
lay at the foundation of that brotherlike intimacy and 
friendship which ever marked his relation with Murchison. 
One important bearing of the geographical fact was this : 
it was evident that while the low districts were unhealthy, 
the longitudinal ridges by which they were fringed were 
salubrious. Another of its bearings was, that it would 
help them to find the course and perhaps the sources of the 
great rivers, and thus facilitate commercial and missionary 
operations. The discovery of the two healthy ridges, 
which made him -so unwilling to die at the mouth of the 
Loangwa, gave him new hope for missions and commerce. 
These and other matters connected with the state of 
the country formed the subject of regular communications 
to the Geographical Society. Between Loanda and Quili- 
mane, six despatches were written at different points. 1 

1 The dates were Pungo Andongo, 24th December 1854 ; Cabango, 17th May 
1855 ; Linyanti, October 16, 1855 ; Chanyuni, 25th January 1856 ; Tette, 4th 
March 1856 ; Quilimane, 23d May 1856. 



1854-56.] FROM LOAXDA TO QUILIMANE. 185 

Formerly, as we have seen, lie had written through a 
Fellow of the Society, his friend and former fellow- 
traveller, Captain, now Colonel Steele ; but as the Colonel 
had been called on duty to the Crimea, he now addressed 
his letters to his countryman, Sir Roderick Murchison. 
Sir Roderick was charmed with the compliment, and 
was not slow to turn it to account, as appears from the 
following letter, the first of very many communications 
which he addressed to Livingstone : — 

" 16 Belgrave Square, October 2, 1855. 

M My dear Sir, — Your most welcome letter reached me after I bad 
made a tour in the Highlands, and just as the meeting of the British 
Association for the Advancement of Science commenced. 

" I naturally communicated your despatch to the Geographical 
section of that body, and the reading of it called forth an unanimous 
expression of admiration of your labours and researches. 

" In truth, you will long ago, I trust, have received the cordial 
thanks of all British geographers for your unparalleled exertions, and 
your successful accomplishment of the greatest triumph in geographical 
research which has been effected in our times. 

" I rejoice that I was the individual in the Council of the British 
Geographical Society who proposed that you should receive our first 
gold medal of the past session, and I need not say that the award was 
made by an unanimous and cordial vote. 

" Permit me to thank you sincerely for having selected me as your 
correspondent in the absence of Colonel Steele, and to assure you that 
I shall consider myself as much honoured, as I shall certainly be 
gratified, by every fresh line which you may have leisure to write tome. 

'• Anxiously hoping that I may make your personal acquaintance, 
and that you may return to us in health to receive the homage of all 
geographers, — I remain, my dear Sir, yours most faithfully, 

'•Kod ck I. Murchison." 

The other subject that chiefly occupied Livingstone's 
mil id at this time was missionary labour. This, like all 
other labour, required to be organised, on the principle 
of making the very best use of all the force that was or 
could be contributed for missionary effort. With his 
fail-, open mind, he weighed the old method of monastic 
establishments, and, mutatis mutandis, he thought some- 
thing of the kind might be very usefuL He thought it 



1 86 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. ix. 

unfair to judge of what these monasteries were in their 
periods of youth and vigour, from the rottenness of then 
decay. Modern missionary stations, indeed, with their 
churches, schools, and hospitals, were like Protestant 
monasteries, conducted on the more wholesome principle 
of family life ; but they wanted stability ; they had 
not farms like monasteries, and hence they required to 
depend on the mother country. From infancy to decay, 
they were pauper institutions. In Livingstone's judg- 
ment they needed to have more of the self-supporting 
element : — 

" It would be heresy to mention the idea of purchasing lands, like 
religious endowments, among the stiff Congregationalists; but an endow- 
ment conferred on a man who will risk his life in an unhealthy 
climate, in order, thereby, to spread Christ's gospel among the heathen, 
is rather different, I ween, from the same given to a man to act as 
pastor to a number of professed Christians. . . . Some may think it 
creditable to our principles that we have not a single acre of land, the 
gift of the Colonial Government, in our possession. But it does not 
argue much for our foresight that we have not farms of our own, equal 
to those of any colonial farmer." 

Dr. Livingstone acknowledged the services of the 
Jesuit missionaries in the cause of education and literature, 
and even of commerce. But while conceding to them 
this meed of praise, he did not praise their worship. He 
was slow, indeed, to disparage any form of worship — any 
form in which men, however unenlightened, gave expres- 
sion to their religious feelings ; but he could not away 
with the sight of men of intelligence kissing the toe of an 
image of the Virgin, as he saw them doing in a Portuguese 
church, and taking part in services in which they did not, 
and could not, believe. If the missions of the Church of 
Rome had left good effects on some parts of Africa, how 
much greater blessing might not come from Protestant 
missions, with the Bible instead of the Syllabus as their 
basis, and animated with the spirit of freedom instead of 
despotism ! 



1854-56.] FROM LOANDA TO QUILIMANE. 187 

With regard to that part of Africa which he had been 
exploring, he gives his views at great length in a letter 
to the Directors, dated Linyanti, 12th October 1855. 
After fully describing the physical features of the country, 
he fastens on the one element which, more than any 
other, was likely to hinder missions — fever. He does not 
deny that it is a serious obstacle. But he argues at great 
length that it is not insurmountable. Fever yields to 
proper treatment. His own experience was no rule to 
indicate what might be reckoned on by others. His 
journeys had been made under the worst possible con- 
ditions. Bad food, poor nursing, insufficient medicines, 
continual drenchings, exhausting heat and toil, and wear- 
ing anxiety had caused much of his illness. He gives a 
touching detail of the hardships incident to his peculiar 
case, from which other missionaries would be exempted, 
but with characteristic manliness he charges the Directors 
not to publish that part of his letter, lest he should 
appear to be making too much of his trials. " Sacri- 
fices " he could never call them, because nothing could 
be worthy of that name in the service of Him who, 
though he was rich, for our sakes became poor. Two or 
three times every day he had been wet up to the waist 
in crossing streams and marshy ground. The rain was 
so drenching that he had often to put his watch under 
his arm-pit to keep it dry. His good ox Sindbad would 
never let him hold an umbrella. His bed was on grass, 
with only a horse-cloth between. His food often con- 
sisted of bird-seed, manioc-roots, and meal. No wonder if 
he suffered much. Others would not have all that to 
bear. Moreover, if the fever of the district was severe, 
it was almost the only disease. Consumption, scrofula, 
madness, cholera, cancer, delirium tremens, and certain 
contagious diseases of which much was heard in civilised 
countries, were hardly known. The beauty of some parts 
of the country could not be surpassed. Much of it was 



1 88 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. ix. 

densely peopled, but in other parts the population was 
scattered. Many of the tribes were friendly, and, for 
reasons of their own, would welcome missionaries. The 
Makololo, for example, furnished an inviting field. The 
dangers he had encountered arose from the irritating 
treatment the tribes had received from half-caste traders 
and slave-dealers, in consequence of which they had im- 
posed certain taxes on travellers, which, sometimes, he 
and his brother- chartists had refused to pay. They were 
mistaken for slave -dealers. But character was a powerful 
educator. A body of missionaries, maintaining everywhere 
the character of honest, truthful, kind-hearted Christian 
gentlemen, would scatter such prejudices to the winds.- 

In instituting a comparison between the direct and 
indirect results of missions, between conversion- work 
and the diffusion of better principles, he emphatically 
assigns the preference to the latter. Not that he under- 
valued the conversion of the most abject creature that 
breathed. To the man individually his conversion was 
of overwhelming consequence, but with relation to the 
final harvest, it was more important to sow the seed 
broadcast over a wide field than to reap a few heads of 
grain on a single spot. Concentration was not the true 
principle of missions. The Society itself had felt this, 
in sending Morrison and Milne to be lost among the three 
hundred millions of China ; and the Church of England, 
in looking to the Antipodes, to Patagonia, to East Africa, 
with the full knowledge that charity began at home. 
Time was more essential than concentration. Ultimately 
there would be more conversions, if only the seed were 
now more widely spread. 

He concludes by pointing out the difference between 
mere worldly enterprises and missionary undertakings 
for the good of the world. The world thought their 
mission schemes fanatical ; the friends of missions, on the 
other hand, could welcome the commercial enterprises of 



1854-56.] FROM LOANDA TO QUILIMANE. 1S9 

the world as fitted to be useful. The Africans were all 
deeply imbued with the spirit of trade. Commerce was 
so far good that it taught the people their mutual de- 
pendence ; but Christianity alone reached the centre of 
African wants. " Theoretically," he concludes, " I would 
pronounce the country about the junction of the Leeba 
and Leeambye or Kabompo, and river of the Bashuku- 
lompo, as a most desirable centre-point for the spread of 
civilisation and Christianity; but unfortunately I must 
mar my report by saying I feel a difficulty as to taking 
my children there without their intelligent self-dedication. 
I can speak for my wife and myself only. We will go, 

WHOEVER REMAINS BEHIND." 

Resuming the subject some months later, after he had 
got to the sea-shore, he dwells on the belt of elevated land 
eastward from the country of the Makololo, two degrees 
of longitude broad, and of unknown length, as remarkably 
suitable for the residence of European missionaries. It 
was formerly occupied by the Makololo, and they had a 
great desire to resume the occupation. One great ad- 
vantage of such a locality was that it was on the border 
of the regions occupied by the true negroes, the real 
nucleus of the African population, to whom they owed a 
great debt, and who had shown themselves friendly and 
disposed to learn. It was his earnest hope that the 
Directors would plant a mission here, and his belief that 
they would thereby confer unlimited blessing on the 
regions beyond. 

Some of the remarks in these passages, and also in 
the extracts which we have given from his Journals, are 
of profound interest, as indicating an important transition 
from the ideas of a mere missionary labourer to those of 
,i missionary general or statesman. In the early part of 
his life he deemed it his joy and his honour to aim at 
the conversion of individual souls, and earnestly did he 
labour and pray for that, although his visible success was 



i 9 o DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap, ix 

but small. But as he gets better acquainted with Africa, 
and reaches a more commanding point of view, he sees 
the necessity for other work. The continent must be 
surveyed, healthy localities for mission stations must be 
found, the temptations to a cursed traffic in human flesh 
must be removed, the products of the country must be 
turned to account ; its whole social economy must be 
changed. The accomplishment of such objects, even in 
a limited degree, would be an immense service to the 
missionary ; it would be such a preparing of his way that 
a hundred years hence the spiritual results would be far 
greater than if all the effort now were concentrated on 
single souls. To many persons it appeared as if dealing 
with individual souls were the only proper work of a 
missionary, and as if one who had been doing such work 
would be lowering himself if he accepted any other. 
Livingstone never stopped to reason as to which was the 
higher or the more desirable work ; he felt that Provi- 
dence was calling him to be less of a missionary journey- 
man and more of a missionary statesman ; but the great 
end was ever the same — 

" THE END OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL FEAT IS ONLY 
THE BEGINNING OF THE ENTERPRISE." 

Livingstone reached the Portuguese settlement of 
Tette on the 3d March 1856, and the " civilised break- 
fast" which the commandant, Major Sicard, sent for- 
ward to him, on his way, was a luxury like Mr. Gabriels 
bed at Loanda, and made him walk the last eight miles 
without the least sensation of fatigue, although the road 
was so rough that, as a Portuguese soldier remarked, it 
was like " to tear a man's life out of him." At Loanda 
he had heard of the battle of the Alma ; after being in 
Tette a short time he heard of the fall of Sebastopol and 
the end of the Crimean War. He remained in Tette till 
the 23d April, detained by an attack of fever, receiving 
extraordinary kindness from the Governor, and, among 



1S54-56.] FROM LOAXDA TO QUILIMANE. 191 

other tokens of affection, a gold chain for his daughter 
Agnes, the work of an inhabitant of the town. These 
gifts were duly acknowledged. It was at this place that 
Dr. Livingstone left his Makololo followers, with inStrUC- 
tions to wait for him till he should return from England. 
Well entitled though he was to a long rest, he deliberately 
gave up the possibility of it, by engaging to return for 
his black companions. 

In the case of Dr. Livingstone, rest meant merely 
change of employment, and while resting and recovering 
from fever, he wrote a large budget of long and interesting 
letters. One of these was addressed to the King of 
Portugal : it affords clear evidence that, however much 
Livingstone felt called to reprobate the deeds of some of 
his subordinates, he had a respectful feeling for the King 
himself, a grateful sense of the kindness received from his 
African subjects, and an honest desire to aid the whole- 
some development of the Portuguese colonies. It refutes, 
by anticipation, calumnies afterwards circulated to the 
effect that Livingstone's real design was to wrest the 
Portuguese settlements in Africa from Portugal, and to 
annex them to the British Crown. He refers most grate- 
fully to the great kindness and substantial aid he had 
received from His Majesty's subjects, and is emboldened 
thereby to address him on behalf of Africa. He suggests 
certain agricultural products — especially wheat and a 
species of wax — that might be cultivated with enormous 
profit. A great stimulus might be given to the cultiva- 
tion of other products — coffee, cotton, sugar, and oil. 
Much had been done for Angola, but with little result, 
ise the colonists leant on Government instead of 
trusting to themselves. Illegitimate traffic (the slave- 
trade) was not at present remunerative, and now was the 
time to make a great effort to revive wholesome enter- 
prise. A good road into the interior would be a great 
boon. Efforts to provide roads and canals had failed for 



192 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. ix. 

want of superintendents. Dr. Livingstone named a 
Portuguese engineer who would superintend admirably. 
The fruits of the Portuguese missions were still apparent, 
but there was a great want of literature, of books. 

" It will not be denied," concludes the letter, " that those who, like 
your Majesty, have been placed over so many human souls, have a 
serious responsibility resting upon them in reference to their future 
welfare. The absence also of Portuguese women in the colony is a 
circumstance which seems to merit the attention of Government for 
obvious reasons. And if any of these suggestions should lead to the 
formation of a middle class of free labourers, I feel sure that Angola 
would have cause to bless your Majesty to the remotest time." 

Dr. Livingstone has often been accused of claiming for 
himself the credit of discoveries made by others, of writing 
as if he had been the first to traverse routes in which he 
had really been preceded by the Portuguese. Even were 
it true that now and then an obscure Portuguese trader 
or traveller reached spots that lay in Dr. Livingstone's 
subsequent route, the fact would detract nothing from 
his merit, because he derived not a tittle of benefit from 
their experience, and what he was concerned about was, 
not the mere honour of being first at a place, as if he had 
been running a race, but to make it known to the world, 
to bring it into the circuit of commerce and Christianity, 
and thus place it under the influence of the greatest 
blessings. But even as to being first, Livingstone was 
careful not to claim anything that was really due to 
others. Writing from Tette to Sir Roderick in March 1856, 
he says : "It seems proper to mention what has been 
done in former times in the way of traversing the conti- 
nent, and the result of my inquiries leads to the belief 
that the honour belongs to our country." He refers to 
the brave attempt of Captain Jose da Roga, in 1678, to 
penetrate from Benguela to the Pio da Senna, in which 
attempt, however, so much opposition was encountered 
that he was compelled to return. In 1800, Lacerda 
revived the project by proposing a chain of forts along the 



1 85 4-5 6.] FROM LOAXDA TO QUILIMANE. 193 

banks of the Coanza. In 1815, two black traders showed 
the possibility of communication from east to west, by 
bringing to Loanda communications from the Governor of 
Mozambique. Some Arabs and Moors went from the 
East Coast to Benguela, and with a view to improve the 
event, "a million of Reis (£142) and an honorary cap- 
taincy in the Portuguese army was offered to any one 
who won Id accompany them back — but none went." The 
journey had several times been performed by Arabs. 

"I do not feel so much elated," continued Dr. Livingstone, "by 
the prospect of accomplishing this feat. I feel most thankful to God 
for preserving my life, where so many, who by superior intelligence 
would have done more good, have been cut off. But it does not look 
as if I had reached the goal. Viewed in relation to my calling, the 
end of the geographical feat is only the beginning of the enterprise. 
Apart from family longings, I have a most intense longing to hear 
how it has fared with our brave men at Sebastopol. My last scrap of 
intelligence was the Times, 17th November 1855, after the terrible 
affair of the Light Cavalry. The news was not certain about a most 
determined attack to force the way to Balaclava, and Sebastopol ex- 
pected every day to fall, and I have had to repress all my longings 
since, except in a poor prayer to prosper the cause of justice and right, 
and cover the heads of our soldiers in the day of battle." [A few days 
later he heard the news.] " We are all engaged in very much the same 
cause. Geographers, astronomers, and mechanicians, labouring to make 
men better acquainted with each other; sanitary reformers, prison 
reformers, promoters of ragged schools and Niger Expeditions ; soldiers 
fighting for right against oppression, and sailors rescuing captives in 
deadly climes, as well as missionaries, are all aiding in hastening on 
a glorious consummation to all God's dealings with our race. In the 
hope that I may yet be honoured to do some good to this poor 
long downtrodden Africa, the gentlemen over whom you have the 
honour to preside will, I believe, cordially join." 

From Tette he went on to Senna. Again lie is 
treated with extraordinary kindness by Lieutenant 
Miranda, and others, and again he is prostrated by an 
attack of fever. Provided with a comfortable boat, he at 
last reaches Quilimane on the 20th May, and is most 
kindly received by Colonel Nunes, "one of the best 
men in the country." Dr. Livingstone has told us in his 
book how his joy in reaching Quilimane was embittered 

N 



194 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. ix. 

on his learning that Captain Maclure, Lieutenant Wood- 
ruffe, and five men of H. M. S. " Dart," had been drowned 
off the bar in coming to Quilimane to pick him up, and 
how he felt as if he would rather have died for them. 1 

News from across the Atlantic likewise informed him 
that his nephew and namesake, David Livingston, a fine 
lad eleven years of age, had been drowned in Canada. 
All the deeper was his gratitude for the goodness and 
mercy that had followed him and preserved him, as he 
says in his private Journal, from " many dangers not 
recorded in this book."' 

The retrospect in his Missionary Travels of the manner 
in which his life had been ordered up to this point, is so 
striking that our narrative would be deficient if it did 
not contain it : — 

"If the reader remembers the way in which I was led, while 
teaching the Bakwains, to commence exploration, he will, I think, 
recognise the hand of Providence. Anterior to that, when Mr. 
Moffat began to give the Bible — the Magna Charta of all the rights 
and privileges of modern civilisation — to the Bechuanas, Sebituane 
went north, and spread the language into which he was translating 
the sacred oracles, in a new region larger than France. Sebituane, at 
the same time, rooted out hordes of bloody savages, among whom no 
white man could have gone without leaving his skull to ornament 
some village. He opened up the way for me — let us hope also for the 
Bible. Then, again, while I was labouring at Kolobeng, seeing only 
a small arc of the cycle of Providence, I could not understand it, and 
felt inclined to ascribe our successive and prolonged droughts to the 
wicked one. But when forced by these, and the Boers, to become 
explorer, and open a new country in the north rather than set my 
face southward, where missionaries are not needed, the gracious Spirit 
of God influenced the minds of the heathen to regard me with favour, 
the Divine hand is again perceived. Then I turned away westwards, 
rather than in the opposite direction, chiefly from observing that some 
native Portuguese, though influenced by the hope of a reward from 
their Government to cross the continent, had been obliged to return 
from the east without accomplishing their object. Had I gone at 

1 Among Livingstone's papers we have found draft letter to the Admiralty, 
earnestly commending to their Lordships' favourable consideration a petition from 
the -widow of one of the men. He had never seen her, he said, but he had been 
the unconscious cause of her husband's death, and all the joy he felt in crossing 
the continent Was embittered when the news of the sad catastrophe reached him. 



1S54-56.] FROM LOANDA TO QU1LIMANE. 195 

first in the eastern direction, which the course of the great Leeambye 
seemed to invite. I should have come among the belligerents near 
Tette when the war was raging at its height, instead of, as it happened, 
when all was over. And again, when enabled to reach Loanda, the 
resolution to do my duty by going back to Linyanti probably saved 
me from the fate of my papers in the ' Forerunner.' And then, last 
of all, this new country is partially opened to the sympathies of 
Christendom, and I find that Sechele himself has, though unbidden by 
man, been teaching his own people. In fact, he has been doing all that 
I was prevented from doing, and I have been employed in exploring — 
a work I had no previous intention of performing. I think that I see 
the operation of the Unseen Hand in all this, and I humbly hope that 
it will still guide me to do good in my day and generation in Africa." 

In looking forward to the work to which Providence 
seemed to be calling him, a communication received at 
Quilimane disturbed him not a little. It was from the 
London Missionary Society. It informed him that the 
Directors were restricted in their power of aiding plans 
connected only remotely with the spread of the gospel, 
and that even though certain obstacles (from tsetse, etc.) 
should prove surmountable, " the financial circumstances 
of the Society are not such as to afford any ground of 
hope that it would be in a position within any definite 
period to undertake untried any remote and difficult 
fields of labour/' Dr. Livingstone very naturally under- 
stood this as a declinature of his proposals. Writing on 
the subject to Eev. William Thompson, the Society's 
agent at Cape Town, he said : — 

" I had imagined in my simplicity that both my preaching, conver- 
sation, and travel were as nearly connected with the spread of the 
gospel as the Boers would allow them to be. A plan of opening up a 
path from either the east or west coast for the teeming population of 
the interior was submitted to the judgment of the Directors, and 
id their formal approbation. 

" I have been seven times in peril of my life from savage men while 
laboriously and without swerving pursuing that plan, and never 
doubting that I was in the path of duty. 

"Indeed, so clearly did I perceive that I was performing good 

Service t'> the cause of Christ, that I Wrote to niv brother that, 1 would 
perish rather than fail in my enterprise, I shall not boast of what I 
have done, but the wonderful mercy I have received will constrain me 
to follow out the work in spite of the veto of the Uoard. 



196 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. ix. 

" If it is according to the will of God, means will be provided from 
other quarters." 

A long letter to the Secretary gives a fuller statement 
of his views. It is so important as throwing light on his 
missionary consistency, that we give it in full in the 
Appendix. 1 

The Directors showed a much more sympathetic spirit 
when Livingstone came among them, but meanwhile, as 
he tells us in his book, his old feeling of independence 
had returned, and it did not seem probable that he would 
remain in the same relation to the Society. 

After Livingstone had been six weeks at Quilimane, 
H.M. brig "Frolic" arrived, with ample supplies for all 
his need, and took him to the Mauritius, where he arrived 
on 12th August' 1856. It was 'during this voyage that 
the lamentable insanity and suicide of his native attendant 
Sekwebu occurred, of which we have an account in the 
Missionary Travels. At the Mauritius he was the guest 
of General Hay, from whom he received the greatest 
kindness, and so rapid was his recovery from an 
affection of the spleen which his numerous fevers had 
bequeathed, that before he left the island he wrote to 
Commodore Trotter and other friends that he was perfectly 
well, and " quite ready to go back to Africa again/' This 
however was not to be just yet. In November he sailed 
through the Red Sea, on the homeward route. He had 
expected to land at Southampton, and there Mrs. Living- 
stone and other friends had gone to welcome him. But 
the perils of travel were not yet over. A serious accident 
befell the ship, which might have been followed by fatal 
results but for that good Providence that held the life of 
Livingstone so carefully. Writing to Mrs. Livingstone 
from the Bay of Tunis (27th November 1856), he says : — 

" We had very rough weather after leaving Malta, and yesterday at 
midday the shaft of the engine — an enormous mass of malleable iron — 

1 Appendix No. III., p. 481. 



iS54-5 6 -] FROM LOAXDA TO QUIL1MANE. 197 

broke with a sort of oblique fracture, evidently from the terrific strains 
which the tremendous seas inflicted as they thumped and tossed 
this gigantic vessel like a plaything. We were near the island called 
Zembra, which is in sight of the Bay of Tunis. The wind, which had 
been a full gale ahead when we did not require it, now fell to a dead 
calm, and a current was drifting our gallant ship, with her sails flapping 
all helplessly, against the rocks; the boats were provisioned, watered, 
and armed, the number each was to cany arranged (the women and 
children to go in first, of course), when most providentially a wind 
sprung up and carried us out of danger into the Bay of Tunis, where I 
now write. The whole affair was managed by Captain Powell most 
admirably. He was assisted by two gentlemen whom we all admire — 
Captain Tregear of the same Company, and Lieutenant Chimnis of the 
Royal Navy, and though they and the sailors knew that the vessel was 
so near destruction as to render it certain that we should scarcely clear 
her in the boats before the swell would have overwhelmed her, all was 
managed so quietly that none of us passengers knew much about it. 
Though we saw the preparation no alarm spread among us. The 
Company will do everything in their power to forward us quickly and 
safely. I 'in only sorry for your sake, but patience is a great virtue, 
you know. Captain Tregear has been six years away from his family, 
I only four and a half." 

The passengers were sent on via Marseilles, and 
Livingstone proceeded homewards hy Paris and Dover. 

At last he reached "dear old England" 011 the 9th 
of December 1856. Tidings of a great sorrow had reached 
him on the way. At Cairo he heard of the death of his 
father. He had been ill a fortnight, and died full of faith 
and peace. ' ; You wished so much to see David," said 
his daughter to him as his life wns ebbing away. " Ay, 
very much, very much ; but the will of the Lord be 
done." Then after a pause he said, ' But I think I'll 
know whatever is worth knowing about him. When you 
sec liiin. tell him I think so." David had not less eagerly 
desired to sit once more at the fireside and tell his father 
of -ill that had befallen him on the way. On both sides 
the desire had to be classed among hopes unfulfilled. 
But < * 1 1 both sides there was a vivid impression that the 
joy so narrowly missed on earth would be found in a 
purer form in the next stage of being. 



198 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. x. 



CHAPTER X. 

FIRST VISIT HOME. 
A.D. 1856-1857. 

Mrs. Livingstone — Her intense anxieties— Her poetical welcome — Congratulatory 
letters from Mrs. and Dr. Moffat — Meeting of welcome of Royal Geographical 
Society — of London Missionary Society — Meeting in Mansion House — 
Enthusiastic public meeting at Cape Town — Livingstone visits Hamilton — 
Returns to London to write his book — Letter to Mr. Maclear — Dr. Risdon 
Bennett's reminiscences of this period — Mr. Frederick Fitch's — Interview 
with Prince Consort — Honours — Publication and great success of Missionary 
Travels — Character and design of the book — Why it was not more of a 
missionary record — Handsome conduct of publisher — Generous use of the 
profits — Letter to a lady in Carlisle vindicating the character of his speeches. 

The years that had elapsed since Dr. Livingstone bade 
his wife farewell at Cape Town had been to her years of 
deep and often terrible anxiety. Letters, as we have 
seen, were often lost, and none seem more frequently to 
have gone missing than those between him and her. A 
stranger in England, without a home, broken in health, 
with a family of four to care for, often without tidings of 
her husband for great stretches of time, and harassed, 
with anxieties and apprehensions that sometimes proved 
too much for her faith, the strain on her was very great. 
Those who knew her in Africa, when, " queen of the 
.wagon " and full of life, she directed the arrangements 
and sustained the spirits of a whole party, would hardly 
have thought her the same person in England. When 
Livingstone had been longest unheard of, her heart sank 
altogether ; but through prayer, tranquillity of mind 
returned, even before the arrival of any letter announcing 
his safety. She had been waiting for him at Southamp- 



1856-57.] FIRST VISIT HOME. 199 

ton, and, owing to the casualty in the Bay of Tunis, he 
arrived at Dover, but as soon as possible he was with 
her, reading the poetical welcome which she had pre- 
pared in the hope that they would never part again : — 

' ; A hundred thousand welcomes, and it 's time for you to come 
From the far land of the foreigner, to your country and your home. 

long as we were parted, ever since you went away, 

1 never passed a dreamless night, or knew an easy day. 

Do you think I would reproach you with the sorrows that I bore 1 
Since the sorrow is all over, now I have you here once more, 
And there 's nothing but the gladness, and the love within my heart, 
And the hope so sweet and certain that again we '11 never part. 



A hundred thousand welcomes ! how my heart is gushing o'er 
With the love and joy and wonder thus to see your face once more. 
How did I live without you these long long years of woe 1 
It seems as if 'twould kill me to be parted from you now. 

You '11 never part me, darling, there 's a promise in your eye ; 
I may tend you while I'm living, you will watch me when I die ; 
And if death but kindly lead me to the blessed home on high, 
What a hundred thousand welcomes will await you in the sky ! 

" Mary. " 

Having for once lifted the domestic veil, we cannot 
resist the temptation to look into another corner of the 
home circle. Among the letters of congratulation that 
poured in at this time, none was more sincere or touch- 
ing than that which Mrs. Livingstone received from her 
mother. Mrs. Moffat. 1 In the fulness of her congratula- 
tions she does not fonret the dark shadow that falls on 
the missionary's wife when the time comes for her to go 
back with her husband to their foreign home, and requires 
her to part from her children ; tears and smiles mingle in 

1 We have been greatly impressed by Mrs. Moffat's letters. She was evidently 

A woman of remarkable power, [f her life had been published, we are convinced 

that it would have been a notable one in missionary biography. Beart and head 

• ridentlyof do common calibre. Perhaps it is not yet too late for some 

friend to think of this. 



2oo DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. x. 

Mrs. Moffat's letter as she reminds her daughter that they 
that rejoice need to be as though they rejoiced not : — 

" Kuruman, December 4, 1856. — My dearest Mary, — In pro- 
portion to the anxiety I have experienced about you and your dear 
husband for some years past, so now is my joy and satisfaction ; even 
though we have not yet heard the glad tidings of your having really 
met, but this for the present we take for granted. Having from the 
first been in a subdued and chastened state of mind on the subject, I 
endeavour still to be moderate in my joy. With regard to you both 
ofttimes has the sentence of death been passed in my mind, and at 
such seasons I dared not, desired not, to rebel, submissively leaving all 
to the Divine disposal ; but I now feel that this has been a suitable 
preparation for what is before me, having to contemplate a complete 
separation from you till that day when we meet with the spirits of 
just men made perfect in the kingdom of our Father. Yes, I do feel 
solemn at death, but there is no melancholy about it, for what is our 
life, so short and so transient 1 And seeing it is so, we should be 
liappy to do or to suffer as much as we can for Him who bought us 
with His blood. Should you go to those wilds which God has enabled 
your husband, through numerous dangers and deaths, to penetrate, 
there to spend the remainder of your life, and as a consequence there 
to suffer manifold privations, in addition to those trials through which 
you have already passed — and they have not been few (for you had a 
hard life in this interior) — you will not think all too much, when you 
stand with that multitude who have washed their robes in the blood 
of the Lamb ! 

" Yet, my dear Mary, while we are yet in the flesh my heart will 
yearn over you. You are my own dear child, my first-born, and 
recent circumstances have had a tendency to make me feel still more 
tenderly towards you, and deeply as I have sympathised with you for 
the last few years, I shall not cease to do so for the future. Already 
is my imagination busy picturing the various scenes through which 
you must pass, from the first transport of joy on meeting till that 
painful anxious hour when you must bid adieu to your darlings, with 
faint hopes of ever seeing them again in this life ; and then, what you 
may both have to pass through in those inhospitable regions. . . . 

" From what I saw in Mr. Livingston's letter to Kobert, I was 
shocked to think that that poor head, in the prime of manhood, was 
so like my own, who am literally worn out. The symptoms he 
describes are so like my own. Now, with a little rest and relaxation, 
having youth on his side, he might regain all, but I cannot help 
fearing for him if he dashes at once into hardships again. He is 
certainly the wonder of his age, and with a little prudence as regards 
his health, the stores of information he now possesses might be turned 
to a mighty account for poor wretched Africa. . . . We do not 
yet see how Mr. L. will get on — the case seems so complex, I 



1S56-57.] FIRST VISIT HOME. 201 

feel, as I have often done, that as regards ourselves it is a subject 
more for prayer than for deliberation, separated as "\ve are by such 
distances, and such a tardy and eccentric post. I used to imagine 
that when he was once got out safely from this dark continent we 
should only have to praise God for all His mercies to him and to us 
all, and for what He had effected by him ; but now I see we must go 
en -eeking the guidance and direction of His providential hand, and 
sustaining and preventing mercy. AVe cannot cease to remember you 
daily, and thus our sympathy will be kept alive with you. . . ." 

Dr.* Moffat's congratulation to his son-in-law was 
calm and hearty : — 

" Your explorations have created immense interest, and especially 

in England, and that man must be made of bend-leather who can 

remain unmoved at the rehearsal even of a tithe of your daring enter- 

The honours awaiting you at home would be enough to make 

re of light heads dizzy, but I have no fear of their affecting your 
upper story, beyond showing you that your labours to lay open the 

jses of the vast interior have been appreciated. It will be almost 
too much for dear Mary to hear that you are verily unscathed. She 
has had many to sympathise with her, and I daresay many have called 
you 3 very naughty man for thus having exposed your life a thousand 
times. Be that as it may, you have succeeded beyond the most 
sammine expectations in laying open a world of immortal beings, all 
needing the gospel, and at a time, now that war is over, when peoplo 
may exert their energies on an object compared with which that 
which has occupied the master minds of Europe, and expended so 
much money, and shed so much blood, is but a phantom." 

On the 9th of December, as we have seen, Living- 
stone arrived at London. He went first to Southampton, 
where his wife was waiting for him, and on his return to 
London was quickly in communication with Sir Roderick 
Murcl rison. On the 1 5th December the Royal Geographical 
Society held a special meeting to welcome him. Sir 
Roderick was in the chair ; the attendance was numerous 
and distinguished, and included some of Livingstones 
previous fellow-travellers, Colonel Steele, Captain Vardon, 
and Mr. Oswell. The President referred to the meeting 
of May 1855, when the Victoria or Patron's medal had 
been awarded to Livingstone for his journey from the 
Capo to Linyaiiti and Luanda, Now Livingstone Lad 



202 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. x. 

added to that feat the journey from the Atlantic Ocean 
at Loanda to the Indian Ocean at Quilimane, and during 
his several journeys had travelled over not less than 
eleven thousand miles of African ground. Surpassing the 
French missionary travellers, Hue and Gabet, he had 
determined, by astronomical observations, the site of 
numerous places, hills, rivers, and lakes, previously 
unknown. He had seized every opportunity of describing 
the physical structure, geology, and climatology of the 
countries traversed, and making known their natural 
products and capabilities. He had ascertained by experi- 
ence, what had been only conjectured previously, that the 
interior of Africa was a plateau intersected by various 
lakes and rivers, the waters of which escaped to the 
Eastern and Western Oceans by deep rents in the flanking 
hills. Great though these achievements were, the most 
honourable of all Livingstone's acts had yet to be men- 
tioned — the fidelity that kept his promise to the natives, 
who having accompanied him to St. Paul de Loanda, 
were reconducted by him from that city to their homes. 

" Rare fortitude and virtue must our medallist have possessed, 
when, having struggled at the imminent risk of his life through such 
obstacles, and when, escaping from the interior, he had been received 
with true kindness by our old allies the Portuguese at Angola, he nobly 
resolved to redeem his promise and retrace his steps to the interior of 
the vast continent ! How much indeed must the influence of the 
British name be enhanced throughout Africa, when it has been 
promulgated that our missionary has thus kept his plighted word to 
the poor natives who faithfully stood by him !" 

On receiving the medal, Livingstone apologised for 
his rustiness in the use of his native tongue ; said that 
he had only done his duty as a Christian missionary in 
opening up a part of Africa to the sympathy of Christen- 
dom : that Steele, Vardon, or Oswell might have done all 
that he had done ; that as yet he was only buckling on 
his armour, and therefore in no condition to speak 
boastfully ; and that the enterprise would never be 



^5 6 "57-] FIRST VISIT HOME. 203 

complete till the slave-trade was abolished, and the 
whole country opened up to commerce and Christianity. 

Among the distinguished men who took part in the 
conversation that followed was Professor Owen. He bore 
testimony to the value of Livingstone's contributions to 
zoology and palaeontology, not less cordial than Sir 
Roderick Murchison had borne to his service to geo- 
graphy. He had listened with very intense interest to 
the sketches of these magnificent scenes of animal life 
that his old and most esteemed friend had given them. 
He cordially hoped that many more such contributions 
would follow, and expressed his admiration of the moral 
qualities of the man who had taken such pains to keep 
his word. 

In the recognition by other gentlemen of Dr. Living- 
stone's labours, much stress was laid on the scientific 
accuracy with which he had laid down every point over 
which he had travelled. Thanks were given to the 
Portuguese authorities in Africa for the remarkable kind- 
ness which they had invariably shown him. Mr. Consul 
Brand reported tidings from Mr. Gabriel at Loanda, to 
the effect that a company of Sekeletu's people had 
arrived at Loanda, with a cargo of ivory, and though 
they had not been very successful in business, they had 
shown the practicability of the route. He added, that 
Dr. Livingstone, at Loanda, had written some letters to 
a newspaper, which had given such an impetus to literary 
taste there, that a new journal had been started — the 
Loanda Aurora, 

On one other point there was a most cordial expression 
of feeling, especially by those who had themselves been 
in South Africa, — gratitude for the unbounded kindness 
and hospitality that Dr. and Mrs. Livingstone had shown 
to South African travellers in the neighbourhood of their 
home. Happily Mrs. Livingstone was present, and heard 
this acknowledgment of her kindness. 



204 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. x. 

Next day, 16tli December, Dr. Livingstone had his 
reception from the London Missionary Society in Free- 
masons' Hall. Lord Shaftesbury was in the chair : — 

" What better thing can we do," asked the noble Earl, " than to 
welcome such a man to the shores of our country % What better than 
to receive him with thanksgiving and rejoicings that he is spared to 
refresh us with his presence, and give his strength to future exertions '/ 
What season more appropriate than this, when at every hearth, and in 
every congregation of worshippers, the name of Christ will be honoured 
with more than ordinary devotion, to receive a man whose life and 
labours have been in humble, hearty, and willing obedience to the 
angels' song, 'Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good- 
will towards men.' " 

.In reply, Livingstone acknowledged the kindness of 
the Directors, with whom, for sixteen years, he had never 
had a word of difference. He referred to the slowness of 
the African tribes, in explanation of the comparatively 
small progress of the gospel among them. He cordially 
acknowledged the great services of the British squadron 
on the West Coast in the repressing of the slave-trade. 
He had been told that to make such explorations as he 
was engaged in was only a tempting of Providence, but 
such ridiculous assertions were only the utterances of the 
weaker brethren. 

Lord Shaftesbury's words at the close of this meeting, 
in honour of Mrs. Livingstone, deserve to be per- 
petuated : — 

" That lady," he said, " was born with one distinguished name, 
which she had changed for another. She was born a Moffat, and she 
became a Livingstone. She cheered the early part of our friend's 
career by her spirit, her counsel, and her society. Afterwards, when 
she reached this country, she passed many years with her children in 
solitude and anxiety, suffering the greatest fears for the welfare of her 
husband, and yet enduring all with patience and resignation, and even 
joy, because she had surrendered her best feelings, and sacrificed her 
own private interests to the advancement of civilisation and the great 
interests of Christianity." 

A more general meeting was held in the Mansion 
House on the 5 th of January, to consider the propriety 



1856-57.] FIRST VISIT HOME. 205 

of presenting a testimonial to Dr. Livingstone. It was 
addressed by the Bishop of London, Mr. Raikes Currie, 
and others. 

Meanwhile a sensible impulse was given to the scientific 
enthusiasm for Livingstone by the arrival of the report 
of a great meeting held in Africa itself, in honour of the 
missionary explorer. At Cape Town, on 1 2th November 
1856, His Excellency the Governor, Sir George Grey, the 
Colonial Secretary, the Astronomer-Royal, the Attorney- 
General, Mr. Rutherfoord, the Bishop, the Rev. Mr. 
Thompson, and others, vied with each other in expressing 
their sense of Livingstone's character and work. The 
testimony of the Astronomer-Royal to Livingstone's 
eminence as an astronomical observer was even more 
emphatic than Murchison's and Owen's to his attainments 
in geography and natural history. Going over his whole 
career, Mr. Maclear showed his unexampled achievements 
in accurate lunar observation. " I never knew a man," 
he said, " who, knowing scarcely anything of the method 
of making geographical observations, or laying down 
positions, became so soon an adept, that he could take 
the complete lunar observation, and altitudes for time, 
within fifteen minutes." His observations of the course 
of the Zambesi, from Sesheke to its confluence with the 
Lonta, were considered by the Astronomer-Royal to be 
" the finest specimens of sound geographical observation 
he ever met with." 

" To give an idea of the laboriousness of this branch of his work," 
he adds, - on an average each lunar distance consists of five partial 
observations, and there are 148 sets of distances, being 740 contacts, — 
and there are two altitudes of each object before, and two after, which, 
together with altitudes for time, amount to 2812 partial observations. 
But that is not the whole of his observations. Some of them intrusted 
to an Arab have not been received, and in reference to those trans- 
mitted he says, ' I have taken others which I do not think it necessary 
.'1/ How completely all this stamps the impress of Livingstone 
on the interior of South Africa ! . . . I say, what that man has 
done is unprecedented. . . . You could go to any point across the 



2o6 DA V1D LIVINGSTONE. [chap. x. 

entire continent, along Livingstone's track, and feel certain of your 
position." 1 

Following this unrivalled eulogium on the scientific 
powers of Livingstone, came the testimony of Mr. Thomp- 
son to his missionary ardour : — 

" I am in a position to express my earnest conviction, formed in 
long, intimate, unreserved communications with him, personally and by 
letter, that in the privations, sufferings, and dangers he has passed 
through, during the last eight years, he has not been actuated by mere 
curiosity, or the love of adventure, or the thirst for applause, or by any 
other object, however laudable in itself, less than his avowed one as a 
messenger of Christian love from the Churches. If ever there was a 
man who, by realising the obligations of his sacred calling as a Chris- 
tian missionary, and intelligently comprehending its object, sought to 
pursue it to a successful issue, such a man is Dr. Livingstone. The 
spirit in which he engages in his work may be seen in the following 
extract from one of his letters : ' You kindly say you fear for the result 
of my going in alone. I hope I am in the way of duty ; my own con- 
viction that such is the case has never wavered. I am doing something 
for God. I have preached the gospel in many a spot where the name 
of Christ has never been heard, and I would wish to do still more in the 
way of reducing the Barotse language, if I had not suffered so severely 
from fever. Exhaustion produced vertigo, causing me, if I looked sud- 
denly up, almost to lose consciousness; this made me give up sedentary 
work; but I hope God will accept of what I can do.' " 

A third gentleman at this meeting, Mr. Butherfoord, 
who had known Livingstone for many years, besides 
describing him as " one of the most honourable, 
benevolent, conscientious men I ever met with," bore 
testimony to his capacity in mercantile affairs ; not 
exercised in his own interest, but in that of others. It 
was Mr. Rutherfoord who when Livingstone was at the 
Cape in 1852, entered into his plans for supplanting the 

1 It seems unaccountable that in the face of such unrivalled testimonies, re- 
flections should continue to be cast on Livingstone's scientific accuracy, even so late 
as the meeting of the British Association at Sheffield in 1879. The family of the 
late Sir Thomas Maclear have sent home his collection of Livingstone's papers. 
They fill a box which one man could with difficulty carry. And their mass is far 
from their most striking quality. The evidence of laborious, painstaking care to 
be accurate is almost unprecedented. Folio volumes of pages covered with figures 
show how much time and labour must have been spent in these computations. 
Explanatory remarks often indicate the particulars of the observation. 



1856-57.] FIRST VISIT HOME. 207 

slave-trade by lawful traffic, and at his suggestion engaged 
George Fleming to go north with him as a trader, and 
try the experiment. The project was not very successful, 
owing to innumerable unforeseen worries, and especially 
the rascality of Fleming's men. Livingstone found it 
impossible to take Fleming to the coast, and had there- 
fore to send him back, but he did his utmost to prevent 
loss to his friend; and thus, as Mr. Kutherfoord said, "at 
the very time that he was engaged in such important 
duties, and exposed to such difficulties, he found time to 
fulfil his promise to do what he could to save me from 
loss, to attend to a matter quite foreign to his usual 
avocations, and in which he had no personal interest ; 
and by his energy and good sense, and self-denying 
exertions, to render the plan, if not perfectly successful, 
yet by no means a failure." 

Traveller, geographer, zoologist, astronomer, mis- 
sionary, physician, and mercantile director, did ever man 
sustain so many characters at once ? Or did ever man 
perform the duties of each with such painstaking accuracy 
and so great success ? 

As soon as he could tear himself from his first en- 
gagements, he ran down to Hamilton to see his mother, 
children, and other relatives. His father's empty chair 
deeply affected him. u The first evening," writes one 
of his sisters, "he asked all about his illness and death. 
One of us remarking that after he knew he was dying 
his spirits seemed to rise, David burst into tears. At 
family worship that evening lie said with deep feeling — 
' We bless thee, O Lord, for our parents ; we give thee 
thanks for the dead who has died in the Lord.'" 

At first Livingstone thought that his stay in this 
country could be only for three or four months, as he 
was eager to be at Quilimane before the unhealthy season 
set in, and thus fulfil his promise to return to his Mako- 
lolo at Tette. But on receiving an assurance from the 



2o8 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. x. 

Portuguese Government (which, however, was never 
fulfilled by them) that his men would be looked after, he 
made up his mind for a somewhat longer stay. But it 
could not be called rest. As soon as he could settle down 
he had to set to work with a book. So long before as 
May 1856, Sir Roderick Murchison had written to him 
that " Mr. John Murray, the great publisher, is most 
anxious to induce you to put together all your data, and 
to make a good book," adding his own strong advice 
to comply with the request. If he ever doubted the 
propriety of writing the book, the doubt must have 
vanished, not only in view of the unequalled interest 
excited by the subject, but also of the readiness of 
unprincipled adventurers, and even some respectable 
publishers, to circulate narratives often mythical and 
quite unauthorised. 

The early part of the year 1857 was mainly occupied 
with the labour of writing. For this he had materials in 
the Journals which he had kept so carefully ; but the 
business of selection and supplementing was laborious, 
and the task of arrangement and transcription very 
irksome. In fact, this task tried the patience of 
Livingstone more than any which he had yet undertaken, 
and he used to say that he would rather cross Africa 
than write another book. His experience of book-mak- 
ing increased his respect for authors and authoresses a 
hundredfold ! 

We are not, however, inclined to think that this trial 
was due to the cause which Livingstone assigned, — his 
want of experience, and want of command over the 
English tongue. He was by no means an inexperienced 
writer. He had written large volumes of Journals, 
memoirs for the Geographical Society, articles on African 
Missions, letters for the Missionary Society, and private 
letters without end, each usually as long as a pamphlet. 
He was master of a clear, simple, idiomatic style, well 



1S56-57] FIRST VISIT HOME. 209 

fitted to re:ord the incidents of a journey — sometimes 
poetical in its vivid pictures, often brightening into 
humour, and sometimes deepening into pathos. Viewing 
it page by page, the style of the Missionary Travels 
is admirable, the chief defect being want of perspective ; 
the book is more a collection of pieces than an organised 
whole : a fault inevitable, perhaps, in some measure, from 
its nature, but aggravated, as we believe, by the haste 
and pressure under which it had to be written. In his 
earlier private letters, Livingstone, in his single-hearted 
desire to rouse the world on the subject of Africa, used 
to regret that he could not write in such a way as to 
command general attention : had he been master of the 
flowing periods of the Edinburgh Review, he thought he 
could have done much more good. In point of fact, if he 
had had the pen of Samuel Johnson, or the tongue of 
Edmund Burke, he would not have made the impression he 
did. His simple style and plain speech were eminently in 
harmony with his truthful, unexaggerating nature, and 
showed that he neither wrote nor spoke for effect, but 
simply to utter truth. What made his work of composi- 
tion irksome was, on the one hand, the fear that he was 
not doing it well, and on the other, the necessity of doing 
it quickly. He had always a dread that his English was 
not up to the critical mark, and yet he was obliged to 
hurry on, and leave the English as it dropped from his 
pen. He had no time to plan, to shape, to organise ; the 
architectural talent could not be brought into play. Add 
to this that he had been so accustomed to open-air life 
and physical exercise, that the close air and sedentary 
attitude of the study must have been exceedingly irk- 
some ; so that it is hardly less wonderful that his health 
stood the confinement of bookmaking in England, than 
that it survived the tear and wear, labour and sorrow, of 
all his journeys in Africa. 

An extract from a letter to Mr. Maclear, on the eve 



210 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [ CHAP - x - 

of his beginning his book (21st January 1857) will show 
how his thoughts were running : — 

" I begin to-morrow to write my book, and as I have a large party 
of men (110) waiting for me at Tette, and I promised to join them in 
April next, you will see I shall have enough to do to get over my 
work here before the end of the month. . . . Many thanks for all the 
kind things you said at the Cape Town meeting. Here they laud me 
till I shut my eyes, for only trying to do my duty. They ought to 
vote thanks to the Boers who set me free to discover the fine new 
country. They were determined to shut the country, and I was 
determined to open it. They boasted to the Portuguese that they 
had expelled two missionaries, and outwitted themselves rather. I 
got the gold medal, as you predicted, and the freedom of the town of 
Hamilton, which insures me protection from the payment of jail fees 
if put in prison !" 

In writing his book, he sometimes worked in the 
house of a friend, but generally in a London or suburban 
lodging, often with his children about him, and all their 
noise ; for, as in the Blantyre mill, he could abstract his 
attention from sounds of whatever kind, and go on calmly 
with his work. Busy though he was, this must have 
been one of the happiest times in his life. Some of his 
children still remember his walks and romps with them 
in the Barnet woods, near which they lived part of the 
time — how he would suddenly plunge into the ferny 
thicket, and set them looking for him, as people looked 
for him afterwards when he disappeared in Africa, coming 
out all at once at some unexpected corner of the thicket. 
One of his greatest troubles was the penny post. People 
used to ask him the most frivolous questions. At first 
he struggled to answer them, but in a few weeks he had 
to give this up in despair. The simplicity of his heart 
is seen in the childlike joy with which he welcomes the 
early products of the spring. He writes to Mr. Maclear 
that, one day at Professor Owen's, they had " seen daisies, 
primroses, hawthorns, and robin-redbreasts. Does not 
Mrs. Maclear envy us ? It was so pleasant." 

But a better idea of his mode of life at home will be 



1856-57.] FIRST VISIT HOME. 2 1 1 

conveyed by the notes of some of the friends with whom 
he staved. For that purpose, we resume the recollections 
of Dr. Bisdon Bennett : — 

" On returning to England, after his first great journey of discovery, 
he and Mrs. Livingstone stayed in my house for some time, and I had 
frequent conversations with him on subjects connected with his African 
life, especially on such as related to Natural History and Medicine, on 
which he had gathered a fund of information. His observation of 
malarious diseases, and the methods of treatment adopted by both the 
natives and Europeans, had led him to form very definite and decided 
views, especially in reference to the use of purgatives, preliminary to, 
and in conjunction with, quinine and other acknowledged febrifuge 
medicines. He had, whilst staying with me, one of those febrile 
attacks to which persons who have once suffered from malarious 
disease are so liable, and I could not fail to remark his sensible obser- 
vations thereon, and his judicious management of his sickness. He 
had a great natural predilection for medical science, and always took 
gnat interest in all that related to the profession. I endeavoured to 
persuade him to commit to writing the results of his medical observa- 
tions and experience among the natives of Africa, but he was too much 
occupied with the preparation of his Journal for the press to enable 
him to do this. Moreover, as he often said, writing was a great 
drudgery to him. He, however, attended with me the meetings of 
some of the Medical Societies, and gave some verbal accounts of his 
medical experience which greatly interested his audience. His 
remarks on climates, food, and customs of the natives, in reference to 
the origin and spread of disease, evinced the same acuteness of obser- 
vation which characterised all the records of his life. He specially 
commented on the absence of consumption and all forms of tubercular 
disease among the natives, and connected this with their constant 
exposure and out-of-door life. 

"After Leaving my house he had lodgings in Chelsea, and used 
frequently to come and spend the Sunday afternoon with my family, 
often bringing his Bister, who was staying with him, and his two elder 
children. It was beautiful to observe how thoroughly he enjoyed 
domestic 1 i f « * and the society of children, how Btrong was his attach- 
ment to his own family after his long and frequent .separations from 
them, and how entirely lie bad retained his simplicity of character. 

"Like so many of his countrymen, he had a keen sense of humour, 
which frequently came into play when relating his many adventures 
and hardships, On the latter he never dilated in the way of complaint, 
and he had little sympathy with, or respect for, those travellers who 
did so. Nor was he apt to say much on direct religious topics, or on 
tin- results of his missionary efforts as a Christian teacher, lie had 
unbounded confidence in the intluence of Christian character and 



2i2 £>A VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. x. 

principles, and gave many illustrations of the effect produced on the 
minds and conduct of the benighted and savage tribes with whom he 
was brought into contact by his own unvarying uprightness of conduct 
and self-denying labour. The fatherly character of God, His never- 
failing goodness and mercy, and the infinite love of the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and efficacy of His atoning sacrifice, appeared to be the topics 
on which he loved chiefly to dwell. The all-pervading deadly evils of 
slavery, and the atrocities of the slave-trade, never failed to excite his 
righteous indignation. If ever he was betrayed into unmeasured 
language, it was when referring to these topics, or when speaking of 
the injurious influence exerted on the native mind by the cruel and 
unprincipled conduct of wicked and selfish traders. His love for 
Africa, and confidence in the steady dawn of brighter days for its 
oppressed races, were unbounded." 

From a member of another family, that of Mr. Fred- 
erick Fitch, of Highbury New Park, with whom also the 
Livingstones spent part of their time, we have some 
homely but graphic reminiscences : — 

"Dr. Livingstone was very simple and unpretending, and used 
to be annoyed when he was made a lion of. Once a well-known 
gentleman, who was advertised to deliver a lecture next day, called on 
him to pump him for material. The Doctor sat rather quiet, and, 
without being rude, treated the gentleman to monosyllabic answers. 
He could do that — could keep people at a distance when they wanted 
to make capital out of him. When the stranger had left, turning to 
my mother, he would say, ' I '11 tell you anything you like to ask.' 

" He never liked to walk in the streets for fear of being mobbed. 
Once he was mobbed in Eegent Street, and did not know how he was 
to escape, till he saw a cab, and took refuge in it. For the same reason 
it was painful for him to go to church. Once, being anxious to go 
with us, my father persuaded him that, as the seat at the top of our 
pew was under the gallery, he would not be seen. As soon as he 
entered, he held down his head, and kept it covered with his hands 
all the time, but the preacher somehow caught sight of him, and 
rather unwisely, in his last prayer, adverted to him. This gave the 
people the knowledge that he was in the chapel, and after the service 
they came trooping towards him, even over the pews, in their anxiety 
to see him and shake hands. 1 

"Dr. Livingstone usually conducted our family worship. On 
Sunday mornings he always gave us a text for the day. His prayers 
were very direct and simple, just like a child asking his Father for 
what he needed. 

1 A similar occurrence took place in a church at Bath during the meetings of 
the British Association in 1864. 



1S56-57.] FIRST VISIT HOME. 213 

"He was always careful as to dress and appearance. This was 
his habit in Africa too, and with Mrs. Livingstone it was the same. 
They thought that this was fitted to secure respect for themselves, and 
that it was for the good of the natives too, as it was so difficult to 
impress them with proper ideas on the subject of dress. 

"Dr. and Mrs. Livingstone were much attached, and thoroughly 
understood each other. The Doctor was sportive and fond of a joke, 
and Mrs. Livingstone entered into his humour. Mrs. Livingstone was 
terribly anxious about her husband when he was in Africa, but before 
others she concealed her emotion. In society both were reserved 
and quiet. Neither of them cared for grandeur 3 it was a great trial 
to Dr. Livingstone to go to a grand dinner. Yet in his quiet way he 
would exercise an influence at the dinner-table. He told us that once 

at a dinner at Lord 's, every one was running down London 

tradesmen. Dr. Livingstone quietly remarked that though he was a 
stranger in London, he knew one tradesman of whose honesty he was 
thoroughly assured ; and if there was one such in his little circle, 
surely there must be many more. 

" He used to rise early : about seven he had a cup of tea or coffee, 
and then he set to work with his writing. He had not the appearance 
of a very strong man." 

In spite of his literary work, the stream of public 
honours and public engagements began to flow very 
strongly. The Prince Consort granted him an inter- 
view, soon after his arrival, in presence of some of the 
younger members of the Royal Family. In March it 
was agreed to present him with the freedom of the City 
of London, in a box of the value of fifty guineas, and in 
May the presentation took place. Most of his public 
honours, however, were reserved till the autumn. 

The Missionary Travels was published in November 
1857, and the success of the book was quite remarkable. 
Writing to Mr. Maclear, 10th November 1857, he says, 
after an apology for delay : — 

" You must ascribe my culpable silence to ' aberration.' I am out 
of my orbit, rather, and you must have patience till I come in again. 
The book is out to-day, and 1 am going to Captain Washington to see 
about copies to yourself, the Governor, the Bishop, Fairbairn, Thomp- 

I'ntherfoord, and Saul Solomon. 1 Ten thousand were tak.n by 

1 Livingstone was quite lavish with presentation copies ; every friend on earth 
■eemed to 1«: included in his list. He tried to remember every one who had shows 

kiudncss to himself, ami particularly to his wife and children. 



2i 4 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. x. 

the London trade alone. Thirteen thousand eight hundred have been 
ordered from an edition of twelve thousand, so the printers are again 
at work to supply the demand. Sir Roderick gave it a glowing 
character last night at the Royal Geographical Society, and the 
Athenceum has come out strongly on the same side. This is con- 
sidered a successful launch for a guinea book." 

It has sometimes been a complaint that so much of 
the book is occupied with matters of science, geographical 
inquiries, descriptions of plants and animals, accounts of 
rivers and mountains, and so little with what directly 
concerns the work of the missionary. In reply to this, it 
may be stated, in the first place, that if the information 
given and the views expressed on missionary topics were 
all put together, they would constitute no insignificant 
contribution to missionary literature. But there was 
another consideration. Livingstone regarded himself as 
but a pioneer in missionary enterprise. During sixteen 
years he had done much to bring the knowledge of Christ 
to tribes that had never heard of Him — probably no mis- 
sionary in Africa had ever preached to so many blacks. 
In some instances he had been successful in the highest 
sense — he had been the instrument of turning men from 
darkness to light ; but he did not think it right to dwell 
on these cases, because the converts were often incon- 
sistent, and did not exemplify a high moral tone. In 
most cases, however, he had been a sower of seed, and 
not a reaper of harvests. He had no triumphs to record, 
like those which had gladdened the hearts of some of his 
missionary brethren in the South Sea Islands. He wished 
his book to be a record of facts, not a mere register of 
hopes. The missionary work was yet to be done. It 
belonged to the future, not to the past. By showing 
what vast fields there were in Africa ripe for the harvest, 
he sought to stimulate the Christian enterprise of the 
Churches, and lead them to take possession of Africa for 
Christ. He would diligently record facts which he had 
ascertained about Africa, facts that he saw had some 



l8 56-57-] FIRST VISIT HOME. 215 

bearing on its future welfare, but whose full significance 
in that connection no one might jet be able to perceive. 
In a sense, the book was a work of faith. He wished to 
interest men of science, men of commerce, men of philan- 
thropy, ministers of the Crown, men of all sorts, in the 
welfare of Africa. Where he had so varied a constituency 
to deal with, and where the precise method by which 
Africa would be civilised was yet so indefinite, he would 
faithfully record what he had come to know, and let 
others build as they might with his materials. Certainly, 
in all that Livingstone has written, he has left us in no 
doubt as to the consummation to which he ever looked. 
His whole writings and his whole life are a commentary 
on his own words — " The end of the geographical feat 
is only the beginning of the enterprise." 

Through the great success of the volume and the 
handsome conduct of the publisher, the book yielded him 
a little fortune. We shall see what generous use he 
made of it — how large a portion of the profits went to 
forward directly the great object to which his heart and 
his life were so cordially given. More than half went to 
a single object connected with the Zambesi Expedition, 
and of the remainder he was ready to devote a half to 
another favourite project. All that he thought it his 
duty to reserve for- his children was enough to educate 
them, and prepare them for their part in life. Nothing 
would have seemed less desirable or less for their good 
than to found a rich family to live in idleness. It was 
and is a common impression that Livingstone received 
large sums from friends to aid him in his work. For the 
most part these impressions were unfounded; but his 
own hard-earned money was bestowed freely and cheer- 
fully wherever it seemed likely to do good. 

The complaint that he was not sufficiently a mission- 
ary was sometimes made of his speeches as well as his 
book. At Carlisle, a lady wrote to him in this strain. 



216 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap, x, 

A copy of his reply is before us. After explaining that 
reporters were more ready to report his geography than 
his missionary views, he says : — 

" Nowhere have I ever appeared as anything else but a servant of 
God, who has simply followed the leadings of His hand. My views of 
what is missionary duty are not so contracted as those whose ideal is a 
dumpy sort of man with a Bible under his arm. I have laboured in 
bricks and mortar, at the forge and carpenter's bench, as well as in 
preaching and medical practice. I feel that I am ■ not my own.' I 
am serving Christ when shooting a buffalo for my men, or taking an 
astronomical observation, or writing to one of His children who forget, 
during the little moment of penning a note, that charity which is 
eulogised as 'thinking no evil;' and after having by His help got 
information, which I hope will lead to more abundant blessing being 
bestowed on Africa than heretofore, am I to hide the light under a 
bushel, merely because some will consider it not sufficiently, or even 
at all, missionary ? Knowing that some persons do believe that open- 
ing up a new country to the sympathies of Christendom was not a 
proper work for an agent of a Missionary Society to engage in, I now 
refrain from taking any salary from the Society with which I was 
connected ; so no pecuniary loss is sustained by any one." 

Subsequently, when detained in Manyuema, and when 
his immediate object was to determine the watershed, 
Dr. Livingstone wrote : — " I never felt a single pang at 
having left the Missionary Society. I acted for my 
Master, and believe that all ought to devote their special 
faculties to Him. I regretted that unconscientious men 
took occasion to prevent many from sympathising with 
me." 



»857-5*0 FIRST VISIT HOME. 217 



CHAPTEE XL 

FIRST VISIT HOME — continued. 
A.D. 1857-1858. 

Livingstone at Dublin, at British Association— Letter to his wife — He meets the 
Chamber of Commerce at Manchester — At Glasgow, receives honours from 
Corporation, University, Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons, United Pres- 
byterians, Cotton-spinners — His speeches in reply — His brother Charles 
joins him — Interesting meeting and speech at Hamilton — Reception from 
" Literary and Scientific Institute of Blantyre" — Sympathy with operatives 
— Quick apprehension of all public questions — His social views in advance of 
the age— He plans a People's Cafe — Visit to Edinburgh— More honours — 
Letter to Mr. Maclear — Interesting visit to Cambridge— Lectures there — 
Professor Sedgwick's remarks on his visit — Livingstone's great satisfaction — 
• Relations to London Missionary Society — He severs his connection — Proposal 
of Government expedition — He accepts consulship and command of expedition 
— Kindness of Lords Palmerston and Clarendon — The Portuguese Ambassador 
— Livingstone proposes to go to Portugal — Is dissuaded — Lord Clarendon's 
letter to Sekeletu — Results of Livingstone's visit to England — Farewell 
banquet, Feb. lSf>S — Interview with the Queen — Valedictory letters — Pro- 
fessor Sedgwick and Sir Roderick Murchison — Arrangements for expedition 
—Dr., Mrs., and Oawell Livingstone set sail from Liverpool — Letters to 
children. 

Finding himself, in the autumn, free of the toil of book- 
making, J)r. Livingstone moved more freely through the 
country, .ittended meetings, and gave addresses. In 
August he went to Dublin, to the meeting of the British 
Association for the Advancement of Science, and gave an 
interesting lecture. Mrs. Livingstone did not accompany 
him. In a letter to her we have some pleasant notes of 
his Dublin visit : — 

"Dublin, 29th August 1857. — I run very sorry now that I did not 
bring you with me, for all inquire after jrou, and father's booh La better 
known here than anywhere else I have been. But it could scarcely 
have been otherwise. I think the visit to Dublin will be beneficial to 



218 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xi. 

our cause, which, I think, is the cause of Christ in Africa. Lord 
Radstock is much interested in it, and seems willing and anxious to 
promote it. He was converted out at the Crimea, whither he had 
gone as an amateur. His lady is a beautiful woman, and I think, 
what is far better, a good, pious one. The Archbishop's daughters 
asked me if they could be of any use in sending out needles, thread, 
etc., to your school. I, of course, said Yes. His daughters are de- 
votedly missionary, and work hard in ragged schools, etc. One of 
them nearly remained in Jerusalem as a missionary, and is the same 
in spirit here. It is well to be servants of Christ everywhere, at home 
or abroad, wherever He may send us or take us. ... I hope I may 
be enabled to say a word for Him on Monday. There is to be a grand 
dinner and soiree at the Lord-Lieutenant's on Monday, and I have got 
an invitation in my pocket, but will have to meet Admiral Trotter on 
Tuesday. I go off as soon as my lecture is over. . . . Sir Duncan 
Macgregor is the author of The Burning of the Kent East Indiaman. 
His son, the only infant saved, is now a devoted Christian, a barrister." 1 

In September we find him in Manchester, where the 
Chamber of Commerce gave him a hearty welcome, and 
entered cordially into his schemes for the commercial 
development of Africa. He was subjected to a close 
cross-examination regarding the products of the country, 
and the materials it contained for commerce ; but here, 
too, the missionary was equal to the occasion. He had 
brought home five or six and twenty different kinds of 
fruit ; he told them of oils they had never heard of — dyes 
that were kept secret by the natives — fibres that might 
be used for the manufacture of paper — sheep that had 
hair instead of wool — honey, sugar-cane, wheat, millet, 
cotton, and iron, all abounding in the country. That all 
these should abound in what used to be deemed a sandy 
desert appeared very strange. A very cordial resolution 
was unanimously agreed to, and a strong desire expressed 

1 Dr. Livingstone always liked that style of earnest Christianity which he 
notices in this letter. In November of the same year, after he had resigned his 
connection with the London Missionary Society, and was preparing to return to 
Africa as H. M. Consul and head of the Zambesi Expedition, he writes thus to 
his friend Mr. James Young :— "I read the life of Hedley Vicars for the first 
time through, when down at Rugby. It is really excellent, and makes me 
ashamed of the coldness of my services in comparison. That was his sister you 
saw me walking with in Dublin at the Gardens (Lady Rayleigh). If you have not 
read it, the sooner you dip into it the better. You will thank me for it." 



iS 5 7-5 s ] FIRST VISIT HOME. 219 

that Her Majesty's Government would unite with that of 
Portugal in giving Dr. Livingstone facilities for further 
exploration in the interior of Africa, and especially in the 
district around the river Zambesi and its tributaries, 
which promised to be the most suitable as a basis both 
for commercial and missionary settlements. 

In the course of the same month his foot was again on 
his native soil, and there his reception was remarkably 
cordial. In Glasgow, the University, the Corporation, 
the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons, the United 
Presbyterians, and the Associated Operative Cotton- 
spinners of Scotland came forward to pay him honour. 
A testimonial of £2000 had been raised by public sub- 
scription. The Corporation presented him with the 
freedom of the city in a gold box, in acknowledging 
which he naturally dwelt on some of the topics that were 
interesting to a commercial community. He gave a 
somewhat new view of "Protection" when he called 
it a remnant of heathenism. The heathen would be 
dependent on no one ; they would depress all other 
communities. Christianity taught us to be friends and 
brothers, and he was glad that all restrictions on the 
freedom of trade were now done away with. He dwelt 
largely on the capacity of Africa to furnish us with 
useful articles of trade, and especially cotton. 

His reception by the Faculty of Physicians and 
Surgeons had a special interest in relation to his medical 
labours. For nearly twenty years he had been a licentiate 
of this Faculty, one of the oldest medical institutions of 
the country, which for two centuries and a half had 
exerted a great influence in the west of Scotland. He 
was now admitted an honorary Fellow — an honour rarely 
conferred, and only on pre-eminently distinguished men. 
The President referred to the benefit which he had found 
from his scientific as well as his more strictly medical 
studies, pursued under their auspices, and Livingstone 



22o DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xi. 

cordially echoed the remark, saying he often hoped that 
his sons might follow the same course of study and devote 
themselves to the same noble profession : — 

" In the country to which I went," he continued, " I endeavoured 
to follow the footsteps of my Lord and Master. Our Saviour was a 
physician ; but it is not to be expected that His followers should 
perform miracles. The nearest approach which they could expect 
to make was to become acquainted with medical science, and endeavour 
to heal the diseases of man. . . . One patient expressed his opinion 
of my religion to the following effect : ' We like you very much ; you 
are the only white man we have got acquainted with. We like you {/»-t 
because you aid us whilst we are sick, but we don't like your ever- 
lasting preaching and praying. We can't get accustomed to that !' " 

To the United Presbyterians of Glasgow he spoke of 
mission work in Africa. At one time he had been some- 
what disappointed with the Bechuana Christians, and 
thought the results of the mission had been exaggerated, 
but when he went into the interior and saw heathenism 
in all its unmitigated ferocity, he changed his opinion, 
and had a higher opinion than ever of what the mission 
had done. Such gatherings as the present were very 
encouraging ; but in Africa mission work was hard work 
without excitement ; and they had just to resolve to do 
their duty without expecting to receive gratitude from 
those whom they laboured to serve. When gratitude 
came, they were thankful to have it ; but when it did not 
come they must go on doing their duty, as unto the Lord. 

His reply to the cotton- spinners is interesting as 
showing how fresh his sympathy still was with the sons 
of toil, and what respect he had for their position. He 
congratulated himself on the Spartan training he had got 
at the Blantyre mill, which had really been the foundation 
of all the work he had done. Poverty and hard work 
were often looked down on, — he did not know why, — for 
wickedness was the only thing that ought to be a 
reproach to any man. Those that looked down on cotton- 
spinners with contempt were men who, had they been 



I857-58.] FIRST VISIT HOME. 221 

cotton-spinners at the beginning, would have been cotton- 
spinners to the end. The life of toil was what belonged 
to the great majority of the race, and to be poor was no 
reproach. The Saviour occupied the humble position 
that they had been born in, and he looked back on his 
own past life as having been spent in the same position 
in which the Saviour lived. 

"My great object," lie said, "was to bo like Him — to imitate Him 
as far as He could be imitated. We have not the power of working 
miracles, but we can do a little in the way of healing the sick, and I 
sought a medical education in order that I might be like Him. In 
Africa I have had hard work. I don't know that any one in Africa 
despises a man who works hard. I find that all eminent men 
work hard. Eminent geologists, mineralogists, men of science in 
every department, if they attain eminence, work hard, and that both 
rarlv and late. That is just what we did. Some of us have left the 
cotton-spinning, but I think that all of us who have been engaged in 
that occupation look back on it with feelings of complacency, and feel 
an interest in the course of our companions. There is one thing in 
cotton-spinning that I always felt to be a privilege. We were 
confined through the whole day, but when we got out to the. green 
fields, and could wander through the shady woods, and rove about the 
whole country, we enjoyed it immensely. AVe were delighted to see 
the flowers and the beautiful scenery. AVe were prepared to admire. 
"We were taught by our confinement to rejoice in the beauties of 
nature, and when we got out we enjoyed ourselves to the fullest 
extent." 

At Hamilton an interesting meeting took place in the 
Congregational Chapel where he had been a worshipper 
in his youth. Here he was emphatically at home; and 
he took the opportunity (as he often did) to say how 
little he liked the lionising he was undergoing, and how 
unexpected all the honours were that had been showered 
upon him. He had hoped to spend a short and quiet 
visit, and then return to his African work. It was his 

e of the kindness shown him, and the desire not to 
be disobliging, that made him accept the public invitations 
lie was receiving. But he did not wish to take the 
honour to himself, as if he had achieved anything by his 
own might or wisdom. He thanked God sincerely for 



222 DA VI D LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xi. 

employing him as an instrument in His work. One of 
the greatest honours was to be employed in winning souls 
to Christ, and proclaiming to the captives of Satan the 
liberty with which he had come to make them free. He 
was thankful that to him, " the least of all saints," this 
honour had been given. He then proceeded to notice the 
presence of members of various Churches, and to advert 
to the broadening process that had been going on in his 
own mind while in Africa, which made him feel himself 
more than ever the brother of all : — 

" In going about we learn something, and it would be a shame to 
us if we did not ; and we look back to our own country and view it 
as a whole, and many of the little feelings we had when immersed in 
our own denominations we lose, and we look to the whole body of 
Christians with affection. We rejoice to see them advancing. I be- 
lieve that every Scotch Christian abroad rejoiced in his heart when he 
saw the Free Church come boldly out on principle, and I may say we 
shall rejoice very much when we see the Free Church and the United 
Presbyterian Church one, as they ought to be. ... I am sure I look 
on all the different denominations in Hamilton and in Britain with 
feelings of affection. I cannot say which I love most. I am quite 
certain I ought not to dislike any of them. Really, perhaps I may . 
be considered a little heterodox , if I were living in this part of the 
country I could not pass one Evangelical Church in order to go to my 
own denomination beyond it. 1 I still think that the different denomi- 
national peculiarities have, to a certain degree, a good effect in this 
country, but I think we ought to be much more careful lest we should 
appear to our fellow-Christians unchristian, than to appear inconsistent 
with the denominational principles we profess. . . . Let this meeting 
be the ratification of the bond of union between my brother 2 and me, 
and all the denominations of Hamilton. Remember us in your prayers. 
Bear us on your spirits when we are far away, for when abroad we 
often feel as if we were forgot by every one. My entreaty to all the 
Christians of Hamilton is to pray that grace may be given to us to be 
faithful to our Saviour even unto death." 

1 Dr. Livingstone gave practical evidence of his sincerity in these remarks in 
the case of his elder daughter, saying, in reply to one of her guardians with whom 
she was residing, that he had no objections to her joining the Church of Scotland. 
This however she did not do ; but afterwards, when at Newstead Abbey, she was 
confirmed by the Bishop of Lincoln, and received the Communion along with her 
father, who helped to prepare her. 

2 Dr. Livingstone had been joined by his brother Charles, who was present on 
this occasion. 



1S57-5S.I FIRST VISIT HOME. 223 

At Blantyre, his native village, the Literary and 
Scientific Institute gave him a reception, Mr. Hanna.11, 
one of the proprietors of the works, a magistrate of 
Glasgow, and an old acquaintance of Livingstone's, being 
in the chair. The Doctor was labouring under a cold, the 
first he had had for sixteen years. He talked to them of 
his travels, and by particular request gave an account of 
his encounter with the Mabotsa lion. He ridiculed Mrs. 
Beecher Stowe's notion that factory-workers were slaves. 
He counselled them strongly to put more confidence than 
workmen generally did in the honest good intentions of 
their employers, reminding them that some time ago, 
when the Blantyre proprietors had wished to let every 
workman have a garden, it was said by some that they 
only wished to bring the ground into good order, and then 
they would take the garden away. That was nasty and 
suspicious. If masters were more trusted they would do 
more good. Finally, he exhorted them cordially to accept 
God's offers of mercy to them in Christ, and give them- 
selves wholly to Him. To bow down before God was 
not mean ; it was manly. His one wish for them all 
was that they might have peace with God, and rejoice 
in the hope of the eternal inheritance. 

His remarks to the operatives show how sound and 
ions his views were on social problems; in this 
sphere, indeed, he was in advance of the age. Thequick- 
and correctness with which he took up matters of 
public interest in Britain, mastered facts, and came to 
clear intelligent conclusions on them, was often the as- 
tonishment of his friends. It was as if, instead of being 
buried in Africa, he had been attending the club and 
reading the daily newspapers for years, — this, too, while 
lie was at work writing liis book, and delivering speeches 
almost without end. We find him at this time antici- 
pating the temperance coffee-house movement, now so 
popular and successful. On 11th July 1857 he wrote 



224 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xi. 

on this subject to a friend, in reference to a proposal to 
deliver a lecture in Glasgow. It should be noticed that 
he never lectured for money, though he might have 
done so with great pecuniary benefit : — 

" I am thinking of giving or trying to give a lecture by invitation 
at the Athenaeum. I am offered thirty guineas, and as my old friends 
the cotton-spinners have invited me to meet them, I think of handing 
the sum, whatever it may be, to them, or rather letting them take it and 
fit up a room as a coffee-room on the plan of the French cafes, where 
men, women, and children may go, instead of to whisky-shops. 
There are coffee-houses already, but I don't think there are any where 
they can laugh and talk and read papers just as they please. The 
sort I contemplate would suit poor young fellows who cannot have a 
comfortable fire at home. I have seen men dragged into drinking 
ways from having no comfort at home, and women also drawn to 
the dram-shop from the same cause. Don't you think something 
could be done by setting the persons I mention to do something for 
themselves % " 

Edinburgh conferred on Livingstone the freedom of 
the city, besides entertaining him at a public breakfast 
and hearing him at another meeting. We are not sur- 
prised to find him writing to Sir Roderick Murchison 
from Rossie Priory, on the 27th September, that he was 
about to proceed to Leeds, Liverpool, and Birmingham, 
" and then farewell to public spouting for ever. I am 
dead tired of it. The third meeting at Edinburgh quite 
knocked me up." It was generally believed that his 
appearances at Edinburgh were not equal to some others ; 
and probably there was truth in the impression, for he 
must have come to it exhausted ; and besides, at a public 
breakfast, he was put out by a proposal of the chairman, 
that they should try to get him a pension. Yet some 
who heard him in Edinburgh received impressions that 
were never effaced, and it is probable that seed was 
silently sown which led afterwards to the Scotch Living- 
stonia Mission — one of the most hopeful schemes for carry- 
ing out Livingstone's plans that have yet been organised. 

Among the other honours conferred on him during 



1S57-5S.] FIRST VISI1 HOME. 225 

this visit to Britain was the degree of D.C.L. from the 
University of Oxford. Some time before, Glasgow had 
given him the honorary degree of LL.D. In the be- 
gin ing of 1858, when he was proposed as a Fellow of the 
Royal Society, the certificate on his behalf was signed, 
among others, by the Earl of Carlisle, then Lord-Lieu- 
tenant of Ireland, who after his signature added P.H. 
{pro Regina), a thing that had never been done before. 1 

The life he was now leading was rather trying. He 
writes to his friend Mr. Maclear on the 10th November : — 

"I finish my public spouting next week at Oxford. It is really 
very time-killing this lionising, and I am sure you pity me in it. I 
hope to have in January. Wonder if the Portuguese have fulfilled 
the intention of their Government in supporting my men. ... I shall 
rejoice when I see you again in the quiet of the Observatory. It is 
more satisfactory to serve God in peace. May He give His grace and 
blessing to us all ! I am rather anxious to say something that will 
1>< nelit the young men at Oxford. They made me a D.C.L. There ! ! 
Wonder if they would do so to the Editor of the Grahamstoivn 
Journal /" 

Livingstone was not yet done with " public spouting," 
even after his trip to Oxford. Among the visits paid by 
him towards the end of 1857, none was more interesting 
or led to more important results than that to Cambridge. 
It was on 3d December he arrived there, becoming the 
guest of the Rev. Wm. Monk of St. John's. Next morn- 
ing i n the sei Kite-house, he addressed a very large audience, 
consisting of graduates and undergraduates and many 
visit* "is from the town and neighbourhood. The Yice- 
Chancellor presided and introduced the stranger. Dr. 
Livingstone's lecture consisted of facts relating to the 
country and its people, their habits and religions belief, 
with some notices of his travels, and an emphatic state- 
ment of his great object — to promote commerce and Chris- 
tianity in the country which he had opened. The last 
part of his lecture w;is an earnest appeal for missionaries. 

1 For list of Dr. Livingstone's honours, see Appendix No. V., p. 487. 
P 



226 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xi. 

" It is deplorable to think that one of the noblest of our missionary 
societies, the Church Missionary Society, is compelled to send to 
Germany for missionaries, whilst other Societies are amply supplied. 
Let this stain be wiped off. The sort of men who are wanted for 
missionaries are such as I see before me : men of education, standing, 
enterprise, zeal, and piety. ... I hope that many whom I now address 
will embrace that honourable career. Education has been given us 
from above for the purpose of bringing to the benighted the knowledge 
of a Saviour. If you knew the satisfaction of performing such a duty, 
as well as the gratitude to God which the missionary must always feel, 
in being chosen for so noble, so sacred a calling, you would have no 
hesitation in embracing it. 

" For my own part, I have never ceased to rejoice that God has 
appointed me to such an office. People talk of the sacrifice I have 
made in spending so much of my life in Africa. Can that be called 
a sacrifice which is simply paid back as a small part of a great debt 
owing to our God, which we" can never repay] Is that a sacrifice 
which brings its own blest reward in healthful activity, the conscious- 
ness of doing good, peace of mind, and a bright hope of a glorious 
destiny hereafter ] Away with the word in such a view, and with 
such a thought ! It is emphatically no sacrifice. Say rather it is a 
privilege. Anxiety, sickness, suffering, or danger, now and then, 
with a foregoing of the common conveniences and charities of this life, 
may make us pause, and cause the spirit to waver, and the soul to sink ; 
but let this only be for a moment. All these are nothing when com- 
pared with the glory which shall hereafter be revealed in, and for, us. 
I never made a sacrifice. Of this we ought not to talk, when we re- 
member the great sacrifice which He made who left His Father's throne 
on high to give Himself for us ; ' who being the brightness of that 
Father's glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding 
all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged 
our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.' . . . 

" I beg to direct your attention to Africa : I know that in a few 
years I shall be cut off in that country, which is now open ; do not let 
it be shut again ! I go back to Africa to try to make an open path for 
commerce and Christianity ; do you carry out the work which I have 
begun. I LEAVE IT WITH YOU !" 

In a prefatory letter prefixed to the volume entitled 
Dr. Livingstones Cambridge Lectures, the late Professor 
Sedgwick remarked, in connection with this event, 
that in the course of a long academic life he had often 
been present in the senate-house on exciting occasions ; 
in the days of Napoleon he had heard the greetings 
given to our great military heroes ; he had been present 



1S57-5S.J FIRST VISIT HOME. 227 

at four installation services, the last of which was graced 
by the presence of the Queen, when her youthful husband 
was installed as Chancellor, amid the most fervent grat il- 
lations that subjects are permitted to exhibit in the 
presence of their Sovereign. But on none of these 
occasions " were the gratulations of the University more 
honest and true-hearted than those which were offered 
to Dr. Livingstone. He came among us without any 
long notes of preparation, without any pageant or 
eloquence to charm and captivate our senses. He stood 
before us, a plain, single-minded man, somewhat atten- 
uated by years of toil, and with a face tinged by the 
sun of Africa. . . . While we listened to the tale he had 
to tell, there arose in the hearts of all the listeners a 
fervent hope that the hand of God which had so long 
upheld him would uphold him still, and help him to 
carry out the great work of Christian love that was 
still before him." 

Next day, December 5th, Dr. Livingstone addressed 
a very crowded audience in the Town Hall, the Mayor 
presiding. Referring to his own plans he said — 

" I contend that we ought not to be ashamed of our religion, and 
had we not kept this so much out of sight in India, we should not now 
be in such straits in that country" [referring to the Indian Mutiny]. 
us appear just what we are. For my own part, I intend to go 
out as a missionary, and hope boldly, hut with civility, to state the 
truth of Christianity, and my belief that those who do not possess it 
arc in error. My object in Africa is not only the elevation of man, 
but thai the country might be so opened that man might see the need 
of his soul's salvation. I propose in my next expedition to visit the 
Zambesi, and propitiate the different chiefs along its banks, endeavour- 
ing to induce them to cultivate cotton, and to abolish the slave-trade : 
already they trade in ivory and gold-dust, and are anxious to extend 
their commercial operations. There is thus a probability of their 
interests being linked with ours, and thus the elevation of the African 
would be the result. 

'• I believe England is alive to her duty of civilising and Christian- 
ising the heathen. We cannot all go out as missionaries, i1 is true; 
but we may all do something towards providing a substitute. More- 
over, all may especially do that which every missionary highly prizes, 



228 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xi. 

viz. — COMMEND THE WORK IN THEIR PRAYERS. I HOPE THAT THOSE 
WHOM I NOW ADDRESS WILL BOTH PRAY FOR, AND HELP THOSE WHO 
ARE THEIR SUBSTITUTES." 

Dr. Livingstone was thoroughly delighted with his 
reception at Cambridge. Writing to a friend, on 6th 
December 1857, he says : "Cambridge, as Playfair would 
say, was grand. It beat Oxford hollow. To make up my 
library again they subscribed at least forty volumes at 
once. I shall have reason soon to bless the Boers." 

Referring to his Cambridge visit a few weeks after- 
wards, in a letter to Rev. W. Monk, Dr. Livingstone 
said : — " I look back to my visit to Cambridge as one of 
the most pleasant episodes of my life. I shall always 
revert with feelings of delight to the short intercourse I 
enjoyed with such noble Christian men as Sedgwick, 
Whewell, Selwyn, etc. etc., as not the least important 
privilege conferred on me by my visit to England. It is 
something inspiriting to remember that the eyes of such 
men are upon one's course. May blessings rest upon 
them all, and on the seat of learning which they adorn \" 

Among the subjects that had occupied Dr. Living- 
stone's attention most intensely during the early part 
of the year 1857 was that of his relation to the London 
Missionary Society. The impression caused by Dr. 
Tidman's letter received at Quilimane had been quite 
removed by personal intercourse with the Directors, who 
would have been delighted to let Livingstone work in 
their service in his own way. But with the very peculiar 
work of exploration and inquiry which he felt that his 
Master had now placed in his hands, Dr. Livingstone 
was afraid that his freedom would be restricted by his 
continuing in the service of the Society, while the Society 
itself would be liable to suffer from the handle that 
might be given to contributors to say that it was depart- 
ing from the proper objects of a missionary body. That 
in resigning his official connection he acted with a full 



iS57-5 8 -] FIRST VISIT HOME. 229 

knowledge of the effect which this might have upon his 
own character, and his reputation before the Church and 
the world, is evident from his correspondence with one of 
his most intimate friends and trusted counsellors, Mr. 
J. B. Braithwaite, of Lincoln's Inn. Though himself a 
member of the Society of Friends, Mr. Braithwaite was 
desirous that Dr. Livingstone should continue to appear 
before the public as a Christian minister : — 

11 To dissolve thy connection with the Missionary Society would at 
once place thee before the public in an aspect wholly distinct from 
that in which thou art at present, and, what is yet more important, 
would in a greater or less degree, and, perhaps, very gradually and 
almost insensibly to thyself, turn the current of thy own thoughts 
and feelings away from those channels of usefulness and service, as a 
minister of the gospel, with which I cannot doubt thy deepest interest 
and highest aspirations are inseparably associated." 

On Dr. Livingstone explaining that, while he fully 
appreciated these views, it did not appear to him con- 
sistent with duty to be receiving the pay of a working 
missionary while engaged to a considerable extent in 
scientific exploration, Mr. Braithwaite expressed anew 
his sympathy for his feelings, and respect for his decision, 
but not as one quite convinced : — 

" Thy heart is bound, as I truly believe, in its inmost depths to the 
Bervice of Christ. This is the 'one thing' which, through all, it is thy 
desire to keep in view. And my fear has been lest the severing of 
thy connection with a recognised religious body should lead any to 
suppose that thy Christian interests were in the least weakened ; or 
that thou wast now going forth with any lower aim than the advance- 
ment of the Redeemer's kingdom. Such a circumstance would be deeply 
to be regretted, for thy character is now, if I may so speak, not thy 
own. but the common property, in a certain sense, of British Christianity, 
and anything which tended to lower thy high standing would cast a 
reflection on the general cause." 

The result showed that Mr. Braithwaite was right as 
to the impression likely to be made on the public ; but 
the contents of this volume amply prove that the impres- 
sion was wrong. 



-30 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xi. 

Dr. Livingstone had said at Quilimane that if it were 
the will of God that he should do the work of exploration 
and settlement of stations which was indispensable to the 
opening up of Africa, but which the Directors did not 
then seem to wish him to undertake, the means would 
be provided from some other quarter. At the meeting 
of the British Association in Dublin, a movement was 
begun for getting the Government to aid him. The pro- 
posal was entertained favourably by the Government, 
and practically settled before the end of the year. In 
February 1858, Dr. Livingstone received a formal com- 
mission, signed by Lord Clarendon, Foreign Secretary, 
appointing him Her Majesty's Consul at Quilimane for 
the Eastern Coast and the independent districts in the 
interior, and commander of an expedition for exploring 
Eastern and Central Africa. Dr. Livingstone accepted 
the appointment, and during the last part of his stay in 
England was much engaged in arranging for the expedi- 
tion. A paddle steamer of light draught was procured 
for the navigation of the Zambesi, and the various 
members of the expedition received their appointments. 
These were — Commander Bedingfield, R.N., Naval Officer; 
John Kirk, M.D., Botanist and Physician; Mr. Charles 
Livingstone, brother of Dr. Livingstone, General Assis- 
tant and Secretary; Mr. Richard Thornton, Practical 
Mining Geologist ; Mr. Thomas Baines, Artist and Store- 
keeper ; and Mr. George Rae, Ship Engineer. All 
these, and whoever afterwards might join the expedition, 
were required to obey Dr. Livingstone's directions as 
leader. 

"We managed your affair very nicely," Lord Palmer- 
ston said to Livingstone at a reception at Lady Palmer- 
ston's on the 12th December. " Had we waited till the 
usual time when Parliament should be asked, it would 
have been too late." Lord Shaftesbury, at the reception, 
assured him that the country would do everything for 



1857-5S.] FIRST VISIT HOME. 231 

him, and congratulated him on going out in the way now 

settled. So did the Lord Chancellor (Cran worth), Sir 
Culling Eardley, and Mr. Calcraft, M.P. 

Dr. Livingstone was on the most friendly terms with 
the Portuguese Ambassador, the Count de Lavradio, who 
ever avowed the highest respect for himself, and a strong 
desire to help him in his work. To get this assurance 
turned into substantial assistance appeared to Living- 
stone to be of the very highest importance. Unless 
Btrong influence were brought to bear on the local Portu- 
guese Governors in Africa, his scheme would be wrecked. 
The Portuguese Ambassador was then at Lisbon, and 
Livingstone had resolved to go there, to secure the in- 
fluence from headquarters which was so necessary. The 
Prince Consort had promised to introduce him to his 
cousin, the King of Portugal. There were, however, 
some obstacles to his going. Yellow fever was raging at 
Lisbon, and moreover, time was precious, and a little 
delay might lead to the loss of a season on the Zambesi. 
At Lady Palmerston's reception, Lord Palmerston had said 
to him that Lord Clarendon might manage the Portuguese 
a flair without his going to Lisbon. A day or two after, 
Livingstone saw Lord Clarendon, who confirmed Lord 
Palmerston's opinion, and assured him that when Lavradio 
returned, the affair would be settled. The Lisbon journey 
was accordingly given up. The Count returned to London 
before Livingstone left, and expressed a wish to send 
a number of Portuguese agents along with him. But 
to this both Lord Clarendon and he had the strongest 
objections, as complicating the expedition. Livingstone 
was furnished with letters from the Portuguese Govern- 
ment to the local Governors, instructing them to give 
liini nil needful help. But when he returned to the 
Zambesi he found that these public instructions were 
gely neutralised and reversed by some unseen pro- 
He himself believed to the last in the honest pur- 



232 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xi. 

pose of the King of Portugal, but lie had not the same 
confidence in the Government. From some of the notes 
written to him at this time by friends who understood 
more of diplomacy than he did, we can see that little 
actual help was expected from the local Governors in the 
Portuguese settlements, one of these friends expressing 
the conviction that " the sooner those Portuguese dogs- 
in-the-manger are eaten up, body and bones, by the Zulu 
Caffres, the better." 

The co-operation of Lord Clarendon was very cordial. 
" He told me to go to Washington (of the Admiralty) as if 
all had been arranged, and do everything necessary, and 
come to him for everything I needed. He repeated, 
' Just come here and tell me what you want, and I will 
give it you.' He was wonderfully kind. I thank God 
who gives the influence." Among other things, Lord 
Clarendon wrote an official letter to the chief Sekeletu, 
thanking him, in the name of the Queen, for his kindness 
and help to her servant, Dr. Livingstone, explaining the 
desire of the British nation, as a commerical and Christian 
people, to live at peace with all and to benefit all ; telling 
him too what they thought of the slave-trade ; hoping 
that Sekeletu would help to keep " God's highway," the 
river Zambesi, as a free pathway for all nations ; assuring 
him of friendship and good -will ; and respectfully hinting 
that, "as we have derived all our greatness from the 
divine religion we received from heaven, it will be well 
if you consider it carefully when any of our people talk 
to you about it." 1 

Most men, after receiving such carte blanche as Lord 
Clarendon had given to Livingstone, would have been 
drawing out plans on a large scale, regardless of expense. 
Livingstone's ideas were quite in the opposite direction. 
Instead of having to press Captain Washington, he had to 
restrain him. The Expedition as planned by Washington, 

1 See Appendix No. IV., p. 485. 



1857-58] FIRST VISIT HOME. 233 

with commander and assistant, and a large staff of officers, 
was too expensive. All that Livingstone wished was a 
steam launch, with an economic botanist, a practical 
mining geologist, and an assistant. All was to be plain 
and practical ; nothing was wished for ornament or show. 
Before we come to the last adieus, it is well to glance 
at the remarkable effect of Dr. Livingstone's short visit, 
in connection with his previous labours, on the public 
opinion of the country in regard to Africa. In the first 
place, as we have already remarked, there was quite a 
revolution of ideas as to the interior of the country. It 
astonished men to find that, instead of a vast sandy 
desert, it was so rich and productive a land, and mer- 
chants came to see that if only a safe and wholesome 
traffic could be introduced, the result would be hardly 
Less beneficial to them than to the people of Africa. In 
the second place, a new idea was given of the African 
people. Caffire wars and other mismanaged enterprises 
had brought out the wildest aspects of the native char- 
acter, and had led to the impression that the blacks were 
just as brutish and ferocious as the tigers and crocodiles 
among which they lived. But Livingstone showed, as 
Moffat had showed before him, that, rightly dealt with, 
they were teachable and companionable, full of respect 
for the white man, affectionate towards him when he 
treated them well, and eager to have him dwelling among 
them. On the slave-trade of the interior he had thrown 
a ghastly light, although it was reserved to him in his 
future journeys to make a full exposure of the devil's 
work in that infamous traffic. He had thrown light, too, 
on the structure of Africa, shown where healthy localities 
were to be found, copiously illustrated its fauna and 
flora, discovered great rivers and lakes, and laid them 
down on its map with the greatest accuracy; and he had 
shown how its most virulent disease might be reduced to 
the category of an ordinary cold. In conjunction with 



234 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xi. 

other great African travellers, he had contributed not a 
little to the great increase of popularity which had been 
acquired by the Geographical Society. He had shown 
abundance of openings for Christian missions from Kuru- 
man to the Zambesi, and from Loanda to Quilimane. He 
had excited no little compassion for the negro, by vivid 
pictures of his dark and repulsive life, with so much misery 
in it and so little joy. In the cause of missions he did not 
appeal in vain. At the English Universities, young men 
of ability and promise got new light on the purposes of 
life, and wondered that they had not thought sooner of 
offering themselves for such noble work. In Scotland, 
men like James Stewart, now of Lovedale, were set think- 
ing whether they should not give themselves to Africa, 
and older men, like Mr. R. A. Macfie and the late Mr. 
James Cunningham of Edinburgh, were pondering in what 
manner the work could be begun. The London Missionary 
Society, catching up Livingstone's watchword " Onward," 
were planning a mission at Linyanti, on the banks of the 
Zambesi. Mr. Moffat was about to pay a visit to the 
great Mosilikatse, with a view to the commencement of a 
mission to the Matebele. As for Livingstone himself, 
his heart was yearning after his friends the Makololo. 
He had been quite willing to go and be their missionary, 
but in the meantime other duty called him. Not being 
aware of any purpose to plant a mission among them, he 
made an arrangement with his brother-in-law, Mr. John 
Moffat, to become their missionary. Out of his private 
resources he promised him £500, for outfit, etc., and £150 
a year for five years as salary, besides other sums, amount- 
ing in all to £1400. Nearly three years of his own 
salary as Consul (£500) were thus pledged and paid. In 
one word, Africa, which had long been a symbol of all 
that is dry and uninviting, suddenly became the most 
interesting part of the globe. 

As the time of Dr. Livingstone's departure for Africa 



1S57-5S.] FIRST VISIT HOME. 235 

drew near, a strong desire arose among many of his 
friends, chiefly the geographers, to take leave of him in a 
way that should emphatically mark the strength of their 
admiration and the cordiality of their good wishes. It 
was accordingly resolved that he should be invited to a 
public dinner on the 13th February 1858, and that Sir 
Roderick Murchison should occupy the chair. On the 
morning of that day he had the honour of an interview 
with Her Majesty the Queen. A Scottish correspondent 
of an American journal, whose letter at other points 
shows that he had good information, 1 after referring to 
the fact that Livingstone was not presented in the usual 
way. says : — 

" He was honoured by the Queen with a j)rivate interview. . . . 
She sent for Livingstone, who attended Her Majesty at the palace, 
without ceremony, in his black coat and blue trousers, and his cap 
surrounded with a stripe of gold lace. This was his usual attire, and 
the cap had now become the appropriate distinction of one of Her 
Majesty's consuls, an official position to which the traveller attaches 
great importance, as giving him consequence in the eyes of the 
natives, and authority over the members of the expedition. The 
Queen conversed with him affably for half an hour on the subject of 
his travels. Dr. Livingstone told Her Majesty that he would now be 
able to say to the natives that he had seen his chief, his not having 
done so before having been a constant subject of surprise to the 
children of the African wilderness. He mentioned to Her Majesty 
also that the people were in the habit of inquiring whether his chief 
were wealthy : and that when he assured them she was very wealthy, 
they would ask how many cows she had got, a question at which the. 
Colleen laughed heartily." 

Iii the only notice of this interview which we have 
loin ul in Livingstone's own writing, he simply says that 
Her Majesty assured him of her good wishes in his 
journeys. It was the only interview with his Sovereign 
he ever had. When he returned in 18G4 he said that 
lie would have been pleased to have another, but only if 
it came naturally, and without his seeking it. The Queen 

1 We have ascertained that the correspondent was the late Mr. Eeddie, of the 
w Free Church College, who got his information from Mr. James Young. 



236 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xi. 

manifested the greatest interest in him, and showed great 
kindness to his family, when the rumour came of his 
death. 

The banquet in Freemasons' Tavern, which it had 
been intended to limit to 250 guests, overflowed the 
allotted bounds, and was attended by upwards of 350, 
including the Ministers of Sweden and Norway, and of 
Denmark ; Dukes of Argyll and Wellington ; Earl of 
Shaftesbury and Earl Grey ; Bishops of Oxford and St. 
David's ; and hosts of other celebrities in almost every 
department of public life. The feeling was singularly 
cordial. Sir Roderick rehearsed the services of Living- 
stone, crowning them, as was his wont, with that memor- 
able act — his keeping his promise to his black servants by 
returning with them from Loanda to the heart of Africa, 
in spite of all the perils of the way, and all the attractions 
of England, thereby " leaving for himself in that country 
a glorious name, and proving to the people of Africa 
what an English Christian is." Still more, perhaps, did 
Sir Roderick touch the heart of the audience when he 
said of Livingstone " that notwithstanding eighteen 
months of laudation, so justly bestowed on him by all 
classes of his countrymen, and after receiving all the 
honours which the Universities and cities of our country 
could shower upon him, he is still the same honest, true- 
hearted David Livingstone as when he issued from the 
wilds of Africa." It was natural for the Duke of Argyll 
to recall the fact that Livingstone's family was an 
Argyllshire one, and it was a happy thought that as 
Ulva was close to Iona — " that illustrious island," as Dr. 
Samuel Johnson called it, " whence roving tribes and 
rude barbarians derived the benefits of knowledge and 
the blessings of religion/' — so might the son of Ulva 
carry the same blessings to Africa, and be remembered, 
perhaps, by millions of the human race as the first 
pioneer of civilisation, and the first harbinger of the 



1857-58-] FIRST VISIT HOME. 237 

gospel. It was graceful in the Bishop of Oxford (Samuel 
AYilberforce) to advert to the debt of unparalleled magni- 
tude which England, founder of the accursed slave-trade, 
owed to Africa, and to urge the immediate prosecution of 
Livingstone's plans, inasmuch as the spots in Africa, 
where the so-called Christian trader had come, were 
marked, more than any other, by crime and distrust, and 
insecurity of life and property. It was a good oppor- 
tunity for Professor Owen to tell the story of the spiral 
tusk, to rehearse some remarkable instances of Living- 
stone's accurate observations and happy conjectures on 
the habits of animals, to rate him for destroying the 
moral character of the lion, and to claim credit to himself 
for having discovered, in the bone caves of England, the 
remains of an animal of greater bulk than any living 
species, that may have possessed all the qualities which 
the most ardent admirer of the British lion could desire I 1 
On no topic was the applause of the company more 
enthusiastic than when mention was made of Mrs. 
Livingstone, who was then preparing to accompany her 
husband on his journey. Livingstone's own words to the 
company were simple and hearty, but they were the 
words of truth and soberness. He was overwhelmed 
with the kindness he had experienced. He did not 
expect any speedy result from the expedition, but he was 
sanguine as to its ultimate benefit. He thought they 
would get in the thin end of the wedge, and that it 
would be driven home by English energy and spirit. 
For himself, with all eyes resting upon him, he felt under 
an obligation to do better than he had ever done. And 
as to Mrs. Livingstone — 

"It is scarcely fair to ask a man to praise his own wife, but I can 
only say that when I parted from her at the Cape, telling her that 1 

1 Livingstone purposed to bequeath to Professor Owen a somewhat extraordinary 
legacy. Writing afterwards to his friend Mr. 5Toung, he said: "Jf I die at 
borne I would lie beside you. My left arm goes to Professor Owen, mind. That , 
is the will of David Livingstone." 



238 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xi. 

should return in two years, and when it happened that I was absent 
four years and a half, I supposed that I should appear before her with 
a damaged character. I was, however, forgiven. My wife, who has 
always been the main spoke in my wheel, will accompany me in this 
expedition, and will be most useful to me. She is familiar with the 
languages of South Africa. She is able to work. She is willing 
to endure, and she well knows that in that country one must put one's 
hand to everything. In the country to which I am about to proceed 
she knows that at the missionary's station the wife must be the maid- 
of-all-work within, while the husband must be the jack-of-all- trades 
without, and glad am I indeed that I am to be accompanied by my 
guardian angel." 

Of the many letters of adieu he received before 
setting out we have space for only two. The first came 
from the venerable Professor Sedgwick, of Cambridge, in 
the form of an apology for inability to attend the farewell 
banquet. It is a beautiful unfolding of the head and 
heart of the Christian philosopher, and must have been 
singularly welcome to Livingstone, whose views on some 
of the greatest subjects of thought were in thorough 
harmony with those of his friend : — 

" Cambridge, February 10, 1858. — My dear Sir, — Your kind and 
very welcome letter came to me yesterday ; and I take the first 
moment of leisure to thank you for it, and to send you a few more 
words of good-will, along with my prayers that God may, for many 
years, prolong your life and the lives of those who are most near and 
dear to you, and that He may support you in all coming trials, and 
crown with a success, far transcending your own hopes, your endea- 
vours for the good of our poor humble fellow-creatures in Africa. 

" There is but one God, the God who created all worlds and the 
natural laws whereby they are governed; and the God of revealed 
truth, who tells us of our destinies in an eternal world to come. All 
truth of whatever kind has therefore its creator in the will and essence 
of that great God who created all things, moral and natural. Great 
and good men have long upheld this grand conclusion. But, alas ! 
• such is too often our bigotry, or ignorance, or selfishness, that we try 
to divorce religious and moral from natural truth, as if they were 
inconsistent and in positive antagonism one to the other, — r.a true 
catholic spirit (oh that the word ' catholic ' had not been so horribly 
abused by the foul deeds of men), teaching us that all truths are linked 
together, and that all art and science, and all material discoveries 
(each held in its proper place and subordination), may be used to 
minister to the diffusion of Christian truth among men, with all its 



1S57-5S.] FIRST VISIT HOME. 239 

blessed fruits of peace and good-will. This is, I believe, your faith, as 
I 9ee it shining out in your deeds, and set forth in the pages of your 
work on Southern Africa, which I have studied from beginning to 
end with sentiments of reverence and honour for the past, and good 
hopes for the future. 

" What a glorious prospect is before you! the commencement of the 
civilisation of Africa, the extension of our knowledge of all the king- 
doms of nature, the production of great material benefits to the old 
world, the gradual healing of that foul and fetid ulcer the slave-trade, 
the one grand disgrace and weakness of Christendom, and that has 
defiled the hands of all those who have had any dealings with it ; and 
last, but not least — nay, the greatest of all, and the true end of all — 
the lifting up of the poor African from the earth, the turning his 
face heavenwards, and the glory of at length (after all his sufferings 
and all our sins) calling him a Christian brother. May our Lord and 
Saviour bless your labours, and may His Holy Spirit be with you to 
the end of your life upon this troubled world ! 

" I am an old man, and I shall (so far as I am permitted to look 
at the future) never see your face again. If I live till the 2 2d of 
March I shall have ended my 73d year, and not only from what we 
all know from the ordinary course of nature, but from what I myself 
know and feel from the experience of the two past years, I am assured 
that I have not long to live. How long, God only knows. It grieves 
me not to have seen you again in London, and I did hope that you 
might yourself introduce me to your wife and children. I hear that a 
farewell dinner is to be given you on Saturday, and greatly should I 
rejoice to be present on that occasion, and along with many other 
true-hearted friends wish you 'God-speed.' But it must not be. I 
am not a close prisoner to my room, as I was some weeks past, but I 
am -till on the sick list, and dare not expose myself to any sudden 
change of temperature, or to the excitement of a public meeting. 
This is one of the frailties of old age and infirm health. I have gone 
on writing and writing more than I intended. Once for all, God bless 
yon : and pray (though I do not personally know them) give my best 
and Christian love to your dear Wife (Ma-Robert she .was called, I 
think, in Africa) and children. — Ever gratefully and affectionately 
yours, A. Sedgwick." 

Sir Roderick, too, had a kind parting word for his 
friend: — "Accept my warmest acknowledgments fo/r 
your List farewell note. Believe me, my dear friend, 
that no transaction in my somewhat long and very active 
life has s<> truly rewarded me as my intercourse Avit li you, 
for, from the beginning to the end, it has been one con- 
tinued bright gleam." 



240 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xi. 

To this note Livingstone, as was his wont, made a 
hearty and Christian response : — " Many blessings be on 
you and yours, and if we never meet again on earth, may 
we through infinite mercy meet in heaven ! " 

The last days in England were spent in arrangements 
for the expedition, settling family plans, and bidding 
farewell. Mrs. Livingstone accompanied her husband, 
along with Oswell, their youngest child. Dr. Living- 
stone's heart was deeply affected in parting with his 
other children. Amid all the hurry and bustle of leaving 
he snatches a few minutes almost daily for a note to one 
or more of them : — 

"London, 2d February 1858. — My dear Tom, — I am soon going 
off from this country, and will leave you to the care of Him who 
neither slumbers nor sleeps, and never disappointed any one who put 
his trust in Him. If you make Him your friend He will be better to 
you than any companion can be. He is a friend that sticketh closer 
than a brother. May He grant you grace to seek Him and to serve 
Him. I have nothing better to say to you than to take God for your 
Father, Jesus for your Saviour, and the Holy Spirit for your sanctifier. 
Do this and you are safe for ever. No evil can then befall you. 
Hope you will learn quickly and well, so as to be fitted for God's 
service in the world." 

"'Pearl,' in the Mersey, 10th March 1858. — My dear Tom, — We 
are off again, and we trust that He who rules the waves will watch 
over us and remain with you, to bless us and make us blessings to our 
fellow-men. The Lord be with you and be very gracious to you ! 
Avoid and hate sin, and cleave to Jesus as your Saviour from guilt. 
Tell grandma we are off again, and Janet will tell all about us." 

In his letters to his children from first to last, the 
counsel most constantly and most earnestly pressed is, to 
take Jesus for their friend. The personal Saviour is 
continually present to his heart, as the one inestimable 
treasure which he longs for them to secure. That treasure 
had been a source of unspeakable peace and joy to himself 
amid all the trials and troubles of his chequered life ; if 
his children were only in friendship with Him, he could 
breathe freely in leaving them, and feel that they would 
indeed fare well. 



1853-5 9-] THE ZAMBESI. 241 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE ZAMBESI, AND FIRST EXPLORATIONS OF 
THE SHIRE. 

A.D. 1838-1859. 

Dr. and Mrs. Livingstone sail in the "Pearl" — Characteristic instructions to 
members of Expedition — Dr. Livingstone conscious of difficult position — 
Letter to Robert — Sierra Leone — Effects of British Squadron and of Christian 
Missions— Dr. and Mrs. Moffat at Cape Town— Splendid reception there — 
Illness of Mrs. Livingstone — She remains behind — The five years of the 
Expedition — Letter to Mr. James Young— to Dr. Moffat— Kongone entrance 
to Zambesi — Collision with Naval Officer — Disturbed state of the country — 
Trip to Kebrabasa Rapids — Dr. Livingstone applies for new steamer — 
Willing to pay for one himself — Exploration of the Shire — Murchison Cataracts 
— Extracts from private Journal — Discovery of Lake Shirwa — Correspondence 
— Letter to Agnes Livingstone — Trip to Tette — Kroomen and two members 
of Expedition dismissed — Livingstone's vindication — Discovery of Lake 
N yassa — Bright hopes for the future — Idea of a colony — Generosity of Living- 
stone — Letters to Mr. Maclear, Mr. Young, and Sir Roderick Murchison — 
His sympathy with the "honest poor" — He hears of the birth of his youngest 
daughter. 

On the 10th March 1858, Dr. Livingstone, accompanied 
by Mrs. Livingstone, their youngest son, Oswell, and the 
members of his expedition, sailed from Liverpool on 
board Her Majesty's colonial steamer, the "Pearl," 
which carried the sections of the " Ma-Robert," the 
steam launch with Mrs. Livingstone's African name, 
which was to be permanently used in the exploration 
of the Zambesi and its tributaries. At starting, the 
"Pearl" had fine weather and a favourable wind, and 
quickly ran down the Channel, and across the Bay of 
Biscay. With that business-like precision which charac- 
ed him, Livingstone, as soon as sea-sickness was 
Q 



242 > DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xii. 

over, had the instructions of the Foreign Office read in 
presence of all the members of the Expedition, and he 
afterwards wrote out, and delivered to each person, a 
specific statement of the duties expected of him. 

In these very characteristic papers, it is interesting 
to observe that his first business was to lay down to each 
man his specific work, this being done for the purpose 
of avoiding confusion and collision, acknowledging each 
man's gifts, and making him independent in his own 
sphere. While no pains were to be spared to make the 
expedition successful in its scientific and commercial aims, 
and while, for this purpose, great stress was laid on the 
subsidiary instructions prepared by Professor Owen, Sir 
W. Hooker, and Sir R. Murchison, Dr. Livingstone 
showed still more earnestness in urging duties of a higher 
class, giving to all the same wise, and most Christian 
counsel to maintain the moral of the Expedition at 
the highest point, especially in dealing with the 
natives : — 

" You will understand that Her Majesty's Government attach more 
importance to the moral influence which may be exerted on the minds 
of the natives by a well-regulated and orderly household of Europeans, 
setting an example of consistent moral conduct to all who may con- 
gregate around the settlement ; treating the people with kindness, and 
relieving their wants ; teaching them to make experiments in agricul- 
ture, explaining to them the more simple arts, imparting to them 
religious instruction, as far as they are capable of receiving it, and 
inculcating peace and good-will to each other. 

" The expedition is well supplied with arms and ammunition, and 
it will be necessary to use these in order to obtain supplies of food, 
as well as to procure specimens for the purposes of Natural History. 
In many parts of the country which we hope to traverse, the larger 
animals exist in great numbers, and, being comparatively tame, may be 
easily shot. I would earnestly press on every member of the expedi- 
tion a sacred regard to life, and never to destroy it unless some good 
end is to be answered by its extinction ; the wanton waste of animal 
life which I have witnessed from night-hunting, and from the ferocious, 
but childlike, abuse of the instruments of destruction in the hands of 
Europeans, makes me anxious that this expedition should not be guilty 
of similar abominations. 



1S5S-59.] THE ZAMBESI. 243 

"It is hoped that we may never have occasion to use our arms for 
protection from the natives, but the best security from attack consists 
in upright conduct, and the natives seeing that we are prepared to meet 
it. At the same time, you are strictly enjoined to exercise the greatest 
forbearance towards the people ; and, while retaining proper firmness 
in the event of any misunderstanding, to conciliate, as far as possibly 
can be done with safety to our part}'. 

u It is unnecessary for me to enjoin the strictest justice in dealing 
with the natives. This your own principles will lead you invariably 
to follow, but while doing so yourself, it is decidedly necessary to be 
careful not to appear to overreach or insult any one by the conduct of 
those under your command. . . . 

" The chiefs of tribes and leading men of villages ought always to 
be treated with respect, and nothing should be done to weaken their 
authority. Any present of food should be accepted frankly, as it is 
impolitic to allow the ancient custom of feeding strangers to go into 
disuse. AVe come among them as members of a superior race, and 
servants of a Government that desires to elevate the more degraded 
portions of the human family. AVe are adherents of a benign, holy 
religion, and may, by consistent conduct, and wise, patient efforts, 
become the harbingers of peace to a hitherto distracted and trodden 
down race. No great result is ever attained without patient, long- 
continued effort. In the enterprise in which we have the honour to 
be engaged, deeds of sympathy, consideration, and kindness, which, 
when viewed in detail, may seem thrown away, if steadily persisted in, 
are sure, ultimately, to exercise a commanding influence. Depend upon 
it, a kind word or deed is never lost." 

Evidently, Dr. Livingstone felt himself in a difficult 
position at the head of this enterprise. He was aware 
of the trouble that had usually attended civil as con- 
trasted with naval and military expeditions, from the 
absence of that habit of discipline and obedience which 
is so firmly established in the latter services. He had 
never served under Her Majesty's Government himself, 
Dor had lie been accustomed to command such men as 
were now under him, and there were some things in his 
antecedents that made the duty peculiarly difficult. On 
one thing only he was resolved : to do his own duty to 
the utmost, and to spare no pains to induce every member 
of the Expedition to do bis. It was impossible for him 
not to be anxious as to how the team would pull together, 
especially as he knew well the influence of a malarious 



244 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xii. 

atmosphere in causing intense irritability of temper. In 
some respects, though not the most obvious, this was the 
most trying period of his life. His letters and other 
written papers show one little but not uninstructive 
effect of the pressure and distraction that now came on 
him — in the great change which his handwriting under- 
went — the neat, regular writing of his youth giving place 
to a large and heavyish hand, as if he had never had 
time to mend his pen, and his only thought had been 
how to get on most quickly. Yet we see also, very 
clearly, how nobly he strove after self-control and con- 
ciliatory ways. The tone of courtesy, the recognition of 
each man's independence in his own sphere, and the 
appeal to his good sense and good feeling, apparent in 
the instructions, show a studious desire, while he took 
and intended to keep his place as Commander, to conceal 
the symbols of authority, and bind the members of the ^ 
party together as a band of brothers. And though in 
his published book, The Zambesi and its Tributaries, 
which was mainly a report of his doings to the Govern- 
ment and the nation, he confined himself to the matters 
with which he had been intrusted by them, there are 
many little proofs of his seeking wisdom and strength 
from above with undiminished earnestness, and of 
his striving, as much as ever, to do all to the glory 
of God. 

As the swift motion of the ship bears him farther and 
farther from home, he cannot but think of his orphan 
children. As they near Sierra Leone, on the 25th March, 
he sends a few fines to his eldest son : — 

"My dear Robert, — We have been going at the rate of 200 
miles a day ever since we left Liverpool, and have been much favoured 
by a kind Providence in the weather. Poor Oswell was sorely sick 
while rolling through the Bay of Biscay, and ate nothing for about 
three days ; but we soon got away from the ice and snow to beautiful 
summer weather, and we are getting nicely thawed. We sleep with 
all our port-holes open, and are glad of the awning by day. At night 



1S5S-59.] THE ZAMBESI. 245 

wo see the Southern Cross ; and the Pole Star, which stands so high 
over yon, is here so low we cannot see it for the haze. We shall not 
Bee it again, hut the same almighty gracious Father is over all, and 
is near to all who love Him. You are now alone in the world, and 
must seek His friendship and guidance, for if you do not lean on Him, 
you will go astray, and find that the way of transgressors is hard. . 
The Lord he gracious to you, and accept you, though unworthy of 
His favour." 

Sierra Leone was reached in a fortnight. Dr. Living- 
stone was gratified to learn that, during the last ten 
years, the health of the town had improved greatly — 
consequent on the abatement of the " whisky fever," 
and the draining and paving of the streets through the 
activity of Governor Hill. He found the Sunday as well 
kept as in Scotland, and was sure that posterity would 
acknowledge the great blessing which the operations of 
the English Squadron on the one hand and the various 
Christian missions on the other had effected. Pie was 
more than ever convinced, notwithstanding all that had 
been said against it, that the English Squadron had been 
a great blessing on the West Coast. The Christian mis- 
sions, too, that had been planted under the protection of 
the Squadron, were an evidence of its beneficial influence. 
He used constantly to refer with intense gratitude to the 
w< >rk of Lord Palinerston in this cause, and to the very end 
of Lis life his Lordship was among the men whose memory 
lie most highly honoured. Often, when he wished to de- 
scribe Ins aim briefly, in regard to slavery, commerce, and 
missions, lie would say it was to do on the East Coast 
what had been done on the West. At Sierra Leone a 
crew of twelve Kroomen was engaged and taken pn board 
for the navigation of the "Ma-Robert," after it should 
reach the Zambesi. On their leaving Sierra Leone, 
the weather became very rough, and from the state of 
Mrs. Livingstone's health, inclining very much to fever, 
it was deemed necessary that she, with Oswell, should be 
left at the Cape, go to Kuruman for a time, and after her 



246 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xii. 

coming confinement, join her husband on the Zambesi in 
1860. "This," says Livingstone in his Journal, "is a 
great trial to me, for had she come on with us, she might 
have proved of essential service to the Expedition in case 
of sickness or otherwise ; but it may all turn out for the 
best." It was the first disappointment, and it was but 
partially balanced by his learning from Dr. Moffat, who, 
with his wife, met them at the Cape, that he had made 
out his visit to Mosilikatse, and had learned that the 
men whom Livingstone had left at Tette had not returned 
home, so that they would still be waiting for him there. 
He knew of what value they would be to him in explain- 
ing his intentions to the natives. From Sir George Grey, 
the excellent Governor of the Cape, and the inhabitants 
of Cape Town generally, the expedition met with an 
unusually cordial reception. At a great meeting at the 
Exchange, a silver box containing a testimonial of eight 
hundred guineas was presented to Livingstone by the 
Governor ; and two days after, a grand dinner was given 
to the members of the Expedition, the Attorney- General 
being in the chair. Mr. Maclear was most enthusiastic 
in the reception of his friend, and at the public meeting 
had so much to say about him that he could hardly be 
brought to a close. It must have been highly amusing 
to Livingstone to contrast Cape Town in 1852 with Cape 
Town in 1858. In 1852, he was so suspected that he 
could hardly get a pound of gunpowder or a box of caps 
while preparing for his unprecedented journey, and he 
had to pay a heavy fine to get rid of a cantankerous post- 
master. Now he returns with the Queen's gold band 
round his cap, and with brighter decorations round his 
name than Sovereigns can give; and all Cape Town 
hastens to honour him. It was a great victory, as it was 
also a striking illustration of the world's ways. 

It is not our object to follow Dr. Livingstone into all 
the details of his expedition, but merely to note a few of 



iS 5 S-59-] THE ZAMBESI. 247 

the more salient points, in connection with the oppor- 
tunities it afforded for the achievement of his object and 
the development of his character. It may be well to 
note here generally how the years were occupied. The 
remainder of 1858 was employed in exploring the months 
of the Zambesi, and the river itself up to Tette and the 
Ivebrabasa Rapids, a few miles beyond. Next year — 1859 
— was devoted mainly to three successive trips on the river 
Shire, the third being signalised by the discovery of 
Lake Nyassa. In 18 GO, Livingstone went back with his 
Makololo up the Zambesi to the territories of Sekeletu. 
In 18G1, after exploring the river Rovuma, and assisting 
Bishop Mackenzie to begin the Universities' Mission, he 
started for Lake Nyassa, returning to the ship towards 
the end of the year. In 18G2 occurred the death of the 
Bishop and other missionaries, and also, during a deten- 
tion at Shupanga, the death of Mrs. Livingstone : hi the 
latter part of the year Livingstone again explored the 
Rovuma. In 18G3 he was again exploring the Shire 
valley and Lake Nyassa, when an order came from Her 
Majesty's Government, recalling the Expedition. In 1864 
he started in the " Lady Nyassa" for Bombay, and thence 
returned to England. 

On the 1st May 1858 the " Pearl" sailed from Simon's 
Bay, and on the 14th stood in for the entrance to the 
Zambesi, called the West Luabo, or Hoskins' Branch. Of 
their progress Dr. Livingstone gives his impressions in 
the following letter to his friend Mr. James Young : — 

u ■ Pearl,' 10th May 1858. 
" Here we are, off Cape Corrientes ('"Whaur's that, I wonner 1 '), 
and hope to be off the Luabo four days hence. We have been most 
remarkably favoured in the weather, and it is well, for had our ship 
been in a gale with all this weight on her deck, it would have been 
perflona .Mrs. Livingstone was sea-sick all the way from Sierra 
Leone, and got as thin as a lath. As this was accompanied by fever 
I was forced to run into Table Lay, and when I got ashore I found 
her father and mother down all the way from Kuruman to see us and 
help the young missionaries, whom the London Missionary Society 



248 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xii. 

has not yet sent. Glad, of course, to see the old couple again. We 
had a grand to-do at the Cape. Eight hundred guineas were pre- 
sented in a silver box by the hand of the Governor, Sir George Grey, 
a line fellow. Sure, no one might be more thankful to the Giver of 
all* than myself. The Lord grant me grace to serve Him with heart 
and sonl — the only return I can make ! ... It was a bitter parting 
with my wife, like tearing the heart out of one. It was so unexpected ; 
and now we are screwing away up the coast. . . . We are all agree- 
able yet, and all looking forward with ardour to our enterprise. It i» 
likely that I shall come down with the ' Pearl' through the Delta to 
doctor them if they become ill, and send them on to Ceylon with a 
blessing. All have behaved well, and I am really thankful to see it, 
and hope that God will graciously make some better use of us in 
promoting His glory. I met a Dr. King in Simon's Bay, of the 
' Cambrian' frigate, one of our class-mates in the Andersonian. This 
frigate, by the way, saluted us handsomely when we sailed out. We 
have a man-of-war to help us (the ' Hermes'), but the lazy muff is far 
behind. He is, however, to carry our despatches to Quilimane. . . ." 

A letter to Dr. Moffat lets us know in what manner he 
was preparing to teach the twelve Kroomen who were to 
navigate the " Ma-Robert," and his old Makololo men : — 

" First of all, supposing Mr. Skead should take this back by the 
1 Hermes ' in time to catch you at the Cape, would you be kind 
enough to get a form of prayer printed for me 1 We have twelve 
Kroomen, who seem docile and willing to be taught ; when we are 
parted from the ' Pearl ' we shall have prayers with them every 
morning. ... I think it will be an advantage to have the prayers 
in Sichuana when my men join us, and if we have a selection from 
the English Litany, with the Lord's Prayer in Sichuana, all may join. 
Will you translate it, beginning at ' Remember not, Lord, our offences,' 
up to 'the right way' % Thence, petition for chiefs, and on to the 
end. . . . The Litany need not be literal. I suppose you are not a 
rabid nonconformist, or else I would not venture to ask this. ..." 

By the time they reached the mouth of the Zambesi, 
Livingstone was suffering from a severe attack of diarrhoea. 
On the lGth of May, being Sunday, while still suffering, 
he deemed it a work of necessity, in order to get as soon 
as possible out of the fever-breeding region of mangrove 
swamps where they had anchored, that they should at 
once remove the sections of the "Ma-Robert" from the 
" Pearl ;" accordingly, with the exception of the time 



1858-59.] THE ZAMBESI. 249 

occupied in the usual prayers, that day was spent in 
labour. His constant regard for the day of rest and 
great unwillingness to engage in labour then, is the best 
proof that on this occasion the necessity for working- 
was to his mind absolutely irresistible. He had found 
that active exercise every day was one of the best pre- 
ventives of fever ; certainly it is very remarkable how 
thoroughly the men of the Expedition escaped it at this 
time. In his Journal he says: — "After the experience 
gained by Dr. M' William, and communicated to the 
world in his admirable Medical History of the Niger 
Expedition^ I should have considered myself personally 
guilty had any of the crew of the ' Pearl' or of the 
Expedition been cut off through delay in the man- 
grove swamps." Afterwards, when Mrs. Livingstone died 
during a long but unavoidable delay at Shupanga, a 
little farther up, he was more than ever convinced that 
he had acted rightly. But some of his friends were 
troubled, and many reflections were thrown on him, 
especially by those who bore him no good-will. 

The first important fact in the history of the Expedi- 
tion was the discovery of the advantages of the Kongone 
entrance of the Zambesi, the best of all the mouths of 
the river for navigation. Soon after, a site was fixed on 
as a depot, and while the luggage and stores were being 
landed at it, there occurred an unfortunate collision with 
the naval officer, who tendered his resignation. At first 
Livingstone declined to accept of it, but on its being 
tendered a second time he allowed the officer to go. It 
vexed him to the last degree to have this difference so 
(arlv, nor did he part with the officer without much for- 
bearance and anxiety to ward off the breach. In his 
despatches to Government the whole circumstances were 
fully detailed. Letters to Mr. Maclear and other private 
friends give a still more detailed narrative. In a few 
quarters blame was east upon him, and in the Cape 



250 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xii. 

newspapers the affair was much, commented on. In due 
time there came a reply from Lord Malmesbury, then 
Foreign Secretary, dated 26th April 1859, to the effect 
that after full inquiry by himself, and after consulting with 
the Admiralty, his opinion was that the officer had failed 
to clear himself, and that Dr. Livingstone's proceedings 
were fully approved. Livingstone had received authority 
to stop the pay of any member of the expedition that 
should prove unsatisfactory; this, of course, subjected 
his conduct to the severer criticism. 

When the officer left, Livingstone calmly took his 
place, adding the charge of the ship to his other duties. 
This step would appear alike rash and presumptuous, did 
we not know that he never undertook any work without 
full deliberation, and did we not remember that in the 
course of three sea- voyages which he had performed he 
had had opportunities of seeing how a ship was managed 
— opportunities of which no doubt, with his great activity 
of mind, he had availed himself most thoroughly. The 
facility with which he could assume a new function, and 
do its duties as if he had been accustomed to it all his 
life, was one of the most remarkable things about him. 
His chief regret in taking the new burden was, that it 
would limit his intercourse with the natives, and prevent 
him from doing as much missionary work as he desired. 
Writing soon after to Miss Whately of Dublin, he says : 
" It was imagined we could not help ourselves, but I took 
the task of navigating on myself, and have conducted 
the steamer over 1600 miles, though as far as my likings 
go I would as soon drive a cab in November fogs in 
London, as be ' skipper ' in this hot sun ; but I shall go 
through with it as a duty." To his friend Mr. Young 
he makes humorous reference to his awkwardness in 
nautical language : " My great difficulty is calling out 
' starboard ' when I mean ' port/ and feeling crusty when 
I see the helmsman putting the helm the wrong way." 



1S5S-59] THE ZAMBESI. 251 

Another difficulty arose from the state of the country 
north of the Zambesi, in consequence of the natives having 
rebelled against the Portuguese and being in a state 
of war. Livingstone was cautioned that he would be 
attacked if he ventured to penetrate into the country. 
He resolved to keep out of the quarrel but to push on in 
spite of it. At one time, his party, being mistaken for 
Portuguese, were on the point of being fired on, but on 
Livingstone shouting out that they were English the 
natives let them alone. On reaching Tette he found his ' 
old followers in ecstasies at seeing him ; the Portuguese 
Government had done nothing for them, but Major Sicard, 
the excellent Governor of Tette, had helped them to find 
employment, and maintain themselves. Thirty had died 
of small-pox ; six had been killed by an unfriendly chief. 
When the survivors saw Dr. Livingstone they said : " Th? 
Tette people often taunted us by saying, • Your English- 
man will never return ;' but we trusted you, and now we 
shall sleep.'' It gave Livingstone a new hold on them 
and on the natives generally, that he had proved true to 
his promise, and had come back as he had said. As the 
men had found ways of living at Tette, Livingstone was 
not obliged to take them to their home immediately. 

One of his first endeavours after reaching Tette was 
Bcertain how far the navigation of the Zambesi was 
impeded by the rapids at Kebrabasa, between twenty 
and thirty miles above Tette, which he had heard of but 
not seen on his journey from Linyanti to Quilimane. 
The distance was short and the enterprise apparently 
easy, but in reality it presented such difficulties as only 
his dogged perseverance could have overcome. After he 
had been twice at the rapids, and when he believed he 
had seen the whole, he accidentally learned, after a day's 
march on the way home, that there was another rapid 
which he had not yet seen. Determined to see all, he 
returned, with Dr. Kirk and four Makololo, and it was 



252 DA VI D LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xii. 

on this occasion that his followers, showing the blisters 
on their feet burst by the hot rocks, told him, when he 
urged them to make another effort, that hitherto they 
had always believed he had a heart, but now they saw he 
had none, and wondered if he were mad. Leaving them, 
he and Dr. Kirk pushed on alone ; but their boots and 
clothes were destroyed ; in three hours they made but a 
mile. Next day, however, they gained their point and 
saw the rapid. It was plain to Dr. Livingstone that had 
he taken this route in 1856, instead of through the level 
Shidina country, he must have perished. The party were 
of opinion that when the river was in full flood, the rapids 
might be navigated, and this opinion was confirmed on a 
subsequent visit paid by Mr. Charles Livingstone and 
Mr. Baines during the rainy season. But the ' ' Ma-Bobert" 
with its single engine had not power to make way. It 
was resolved to apply to Her Majesty's Government for a 
more suitable vessel to carry them up the country, stores 
and all. Until the answer should come to this applica- 
tion, Dr. Livingstone could not return with his Makololo 
to their own country. 

While making this application, he was preparing 
another string for his bow. He wrote to his friend, Mr. 
James Young, that if Government refused, he would get 
a vessel at his own expense, and in a succession of letters 
authorised him to spend £2000 of his own money in the 
purchase of a suitable ship. Eventually, both suggestions 
were carried into effect. The Government gave the 
" Pioneer " for the navigation of the Zambesi and lower 
Shire ; Livingstone procured the " Lady Nyassa " for the 
Lake (where, however, she never floated), but the cost was 
more than £6000 — the greater part, indeed, of the profits 
of his book. 

The " Ma-Robert," which had promised so well at first, 
now turned out a great disappointment. Her consump- 
tion of fuel was enormous ; her furnace had to be lighted 



1858-59] FIRST EXPLORATIONS OF THE SHIRE. 253 

hours before the steam was serviceable ; she snorted so 
horribly that they called her "The Asthmatic," and after 
all she made so little progress that canoes could easily 
pass her. Having taken much interest in the purchase 
of the vessel, and thought he was getting a great bargain 
because its owner professed to do so much through "love 
of the en use," Livingstone was greatly mortified when 
he found he had got an inferior and unworthy article ; 
mid many a joke he made, as well as remarks of a more 
serious kind, in connection with the manner which the 
" eminent shipbuilder" had taken to show his love. 

Early in 1859 the exploration of the Shire was begun 
— a river hitherto absolutely unknown. The country 
a round was rich and fertile, the natives not unfriendly, 
l)i it suspicious. They had probably never been visited 
before but by man-stealers, and had never seen Europeans. 
The Shire valley was inhabited by the Manganja, a very 
warlike race. Some days' journey above the junction 
with the Zambesi, where the Shire issues from the 
mountains, the progress of the party was stopped by 
ran ids, to which they gave the name of the " Murchison 
Cataracts." It seemed in vain to penetrate among the 
people at that time without supplies, considering how 
suspicious they were. Crowds went along the banks 
watching them by day; they had guards over them all 
night, and these were always ready with their bows and 
poisoned arrows. Nevertheless, some progress was made 
in civilising them, and at a future time it was hoped that 
further exploration might take place. 

Some passages in Livingstone's private Journal give 

1 glimpse of the more serious thoughts that were 

siing through his mind at this time : — 

"Marth 3, 1850. — If we delicate ourselves to God unreservedly 
H<- will make use of whatever peculiarities of constitution He lias 
imparted for His own glory, and Ho will in answer to prayer give 
wisdom to guide. Ho will so guide as to make useful. how far 



254 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xii. 

am I from that hearty devotion to God I read of in others ! The Lord 
have mercy on me a sinner I" 

" March 5th. — A woman left Tette yesterday with a cargo of slaves 
(20 men and 40 women) in irons to sell to St. Cruz [a trader], for ex- 
portation at Bourbon. Francisco at Shupanga is the great receiver for 
Cruz. This is carnival, and it is observed chiefly as a drinking feast." 

"March 6th. — Teaching Makololo Lord's Prayer and Creed. Prayers 
as usual at 9 A- A.M. When employed in active travel, my mind 
becomes inactive, and the heart cold and dead, but after remaining 
some time quiet, the heart revives and I become more spiritually- 
minded. This is a mercy which I have experienced before, and when 
I see a matter to be duty I go on regardless of my feelings. I do 
trust that the Lord is with me, though the mind is engaged in other 
matters than the spiritual. I want my whole life to be out and out 
for the Divine glory, and my earnest prayer is that God may accept 
what His own Spirit must have implanted — the desire to glorify Him. 
I have been more than usually drawn out in earnest prayer of late — 
for the Expedition — for my family — the fear lest 's misrepre- 
sentation may injure the cause of Christ — the hope that I may be 
j>ermitted to open this dark land to the blessed gospel. I have cast 
all before my God. Good Lord, have mercy upon me. Leave me 
not, nor forsake me. He has guided well in time past. I commit my 
way to Him for the future. All I have received has come from Him. 
Will He be pleased in mercy to use me for His glory % I have prayed 
for this, and Jesus himself said, ' Ask, and ye shall receive,' and a host 
of statements to the same effect. There is a great deal of trifling 
frivolousness in not trusting in God. Not trusting in Him who is 
truth itself, faithfulness, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever ! 
It is presumption not to trust in Him implicitly, and yet this heart is 
sometimes fearfully guilty of distrust. I am ashamed to think of it. 
Ay ; but He must put the trusting, loving, childlike spirit in by His 
grace. Lord, I am Thine, truly I am Thine — take me — do what 
seemeth good in Thy sight with me, and give me complete resignation 
to Thy will in all things." 

Two months later (May 1859), a second ascent of 
the Shire was performed, and friendly relations were 
established with a clever chief named Chibisa, "a jolly 
person, who laughs easily — which is always a good sign." 
Chibisa believed firmly in two things — the divine right 
of kings, and the impossibility that Chibisa should ever 
be in the wrong. He told them that his father had 
imparted an influence to him, which had come in by his 
head, whereby every person that heard him speak re- 



185S-59.] FIRST EXPLORATIONS OF THE SHIRE: 255 

spected him greatly. Livingstone evidently made a 
great impression on Chibisa ; like other chiefs, he began 
to fall under the spell of his influence. 

Making a detour to the east, the travellers now 
discovered Lake Shirwa, " a magnificent inland lake." 
This lake was absolutely unknown to the Portuguese, 
who, indeed, were never allowed by the natives to enter 
the Shire. Livingstone had often to explain that he and 
his party were not Portuguese but British. After dis- 
covering this lake, the party returned to the ship, and 
then sailed to the Kongone harbour, in hopes of meeting 
a man-of-war, and obtaining provisions. In this, how- 
ever, they were disappointed. 

Some idea of the voluminous correspondence carried on 
by Dr. Livingstone may be formed from the following 
enumeration of the friends to whom he addressed letters 
in May of this year : — Lords Clarendon and Palmerston, 
Bishop of Oxford, Miss Burdett Coutts, Mr. Yenn, Lord 
Kinnaird, Mr. James Wilson, Mr. Oswell, Colonel Steele, 
Dr. Newton of Philadelphia, his brother John in Canada, 
J. B. and C. Braithwaite, Dr. Andrew Smith, Admiral 
F. Grey, Sir R. Murchison, Captain Washington, Mr. 
Maclear, Professor Owen, Major Vardon, Mrs. Living- 
stone, Viscount Goderich. 

Here is the account he gave of his proceedings to his 
little daughter Agnes : — 

"River Shirt, 1st June 1859. — "We have been down to the mouth of 
the river Zambesi in expectation of meeting a man-of-war with salt 
provisions, but, none appearing on the day appointed, we conclude that 
the Admiral has not received my letters in time to send her. We have 
no post-office here, so we buried a bottle containing a letter on an ^ 
island in the entrance to Kongone harbour. This we told the Admiral 
we should do in case of not meeting a cruiser, and whoever comes 
will search for our bottle and see another appointment for 30th of 
July. This goes with despatches by way of Quilimane, and 1 hope 
some day to get from you a letter by the same route. We have got 
no news from home since we left Liverpool, and we long now to hear 
how all goes on in Europe and in India. I am now on my way 



256 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xii. 

to Tette, but we ran up the Shire" some forty miles to buy rice for our 
company. Uncle Charles is there. He has had some fever, but is 
better. We left him there about two months ago, and Dr. Kirk and I, 
with some fifteen Makololo, ascended this river one hundred miles in 
the ' Ma-Kobert,' then left the vessel and proceeded beyond that on foot 
till we had discovered a magnificent lake called Shirwa (pronounced 
Shurwah). It was very grand, for we could not see the end of it, 
though some way up a mountain ; and all around it are mountains 
much higher than any you see in Scotland. One mountain stands in 
the lake, and people live on it. Another called Zomba is more than 
six thousand feet high, and people live on it too, for we could *see their 
gardens on its top, which is larger than from Glasgow to Hamilton, or 
about from fifteen to eighteen miles. The country is quite a Highland 
region, and many people live in it. Most of them were afraid of us. 
The women ran into their huts and shut the doors. The children 
screamed in terror, and even the hens w T ould fly away and leave their 
chickens. I suppose you would be frightened too if you saw strange 
creatures, say a lot of Trundlemen, like those on the Isle of Man 
pennies, come whirling up the street. No one was impudent to us 
except some slave-traders, but they became civil as soon as they 
learned we were English and not Portuguese. We saw the sticks 
they employ for training any one whom they have just bought. One 

is about eight feet long, the 
head, or neck rather, is put 
into the space between the 
clotted lines and shaft, and 
another slave carries the end. 
When they are considered tame they are allowed to go in chains. 

" I am working in the hope that in the course of time this horrid 
system may cease. All the country we travelled through is capable of 
growing cotton and sugar, and the people now cultivate a good deal. 
They would grow much more if they could only sell it. At present 
we in England are the mainstay of slavery in America and elsewhere 
by buying slave-grown produce. Here there are hundreds of miles of 
land lying waste, and so rich that the grass towers far over one's head 
in walking. You cannot see where the narrow paths end, the grass is 
so tall and overhangs them so. If our countrymen were here they 
would soon render slave-buying unprofitable. Perhaps God may 
honour us to open up the way for this. My heart is sore when I 
think of so many of our countrymen in poverty and misery, while 
they might be doing so much good to themselves and others where our 
Heavenly Father has so abundantly provided fruitful hills and fertile 
valleys. If our people were out here they would not need to cultivate 
little snatches by the side of railways as they do. But all is in the 
hands of the all-wise Father. We must trust that He will bring all 
out right at last. 

"My dear Agnes, you must take Him to be your Father and Guide. 




1858-59-] FIRST EXPLORATIONS OF THE SHIRE. 257 

Tell Him all that is in your heart, and make Him your confidant. 
His ear is ever open, and He despiseth not the humblest sigh. He is 
your best Friend, and loves at all times. It is not enough to be a 
servant, you must be a friend of Jesus. Love Him and surrender 
your entire being to Him. The more you trust Him, casting all your 
eaj-e upon Him, the more He is pleased, and He will so guide you 
that your life will be for His own glory. The Lord be with you. 
My kind love to grandma and to all your friends. I hope your eyes 
are better, and that you are able to read books for yourself. Tell Tom 
that we caught a young elephant in coming down the Shire, about the 
size of the largest dog he ever saw, but one of the Makololo, in a state 
of excitement, cut its trunk, so that it bled very much, and died in two 
days. Had it lived we should have sent it to the Queen, as no African 
elephant was ever seen in England. No news from mamma and Oswell." 

Another evidence of the place of his children in his 
thoughts is found in the following lines in his Journal : — 

" 20fh June 1S59. — I cannot and will not attribute any of the 
public attention which has been awakened to my own wisdom cr 
ability. The great Power being my Helper, I shall always say that 
my success is all owing to His favour. I have been the channel of the 
Divine Power, and I pray that His gracious influence may penetrate 
me so that all may turn to the advancement of His gracious reign in 
this fallen world. 

" Oh, may the mild influence of the Eternal Spirit enter the 
bosoms of my children, penetrate their souls, and diffuse through their 
whole natures the everlasting love of God in Jesus Christ ! Holy, 
gracious, almighty Power, I hide myself in Thee through Thy 
almighty Son. Take my children under Thy care. Purify them and 
fit them for Thy service. Let the beams of the Sun of Kighteousness 
produce spring, summer, and harvest in them for Thee." 

The short trip from Kongone to Tette and back was 
marked by some changes in the composition of the party. 
The Kroomen being found to be useless, were shipped on 
board a man-of-war. The services of two members of the 
expedition were also dispensed with, as they were not 
found to be promoting its ends. Livingstone would not 
pay the public money to men who, he believed, were not 
thoroughly earning it. To these troubles was added the 
constantly increasing mortification arising from the state 
of the ship. 

It has sometimes been represented, in view of such 

R 



258 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xii. 

facts as have just been recorded, that Livingstone was 
imperious and despotic in the management of other men, 
otherwise he and his comrades would have got on better 
together. The accusation, even at first sight, has an air 
of improbability, for Livingstone's nature was most kindly, 
and it was the aim of his life to increase enjoyment. In 
explanation of the friction on board his ship it must be 
remembered that his party were a sort of scratch crew 
brought together without previous acquaintance or know- 
ledge of each other's ways ; that the heat and the 
mosquitos, the delays, the stoppages on sandbanks, the 
perpetual struggle for fuel, 1 the monotony of existence, 
with so little to break it, and the irritating influence of 
the climate, did not tend to smooth their tempers or 
increase the amenities of life. The malarious climate had 
a most disturbing effect. No one, it is said, who has not 
experienced it, could imagine the sensation of misery 
connected with the feverish attacks so common in the low 
districts. And Livingstone had difficulties in managing 
his countrymen which he had not in managing the natives. 
He was so conscientious, so deeply in earnest, so hard 
a worker himself, that he could endure nothing that 
seemed like playing or trifling with duty. Sometimes, 
too, things were harshly represented to him, on which a 
milder construction might have been put. One of those 
with whom he parted at this time afterwards rejoined 
the Expedition, his pay being restored on Livingstone s 
intercession. Those who continued to enjoy his friendship 
were never weary of speaking of his delightful qualities 
as a companion in travel, and the warm sunshine which 
he had the knack of spreading around. 

A third trip up the Shire was made in August, and 
on the 16th of September Lake Nyassa was discovered. 
Livingstone had no doubt that he and his party were the 

1 This was incredible. Livingstone wrote to his friend Jose Nunes that it took 
all hands a day and a half to cut one day's fuel. 



1858-59.] FIRST EXPLORATIOXS OF THE SHIRE. 259 

discoverers ; Dr. Roscher, on whose behalf a claim was 
subsequently made, was two months later, and his unfor- 
tunate murder by the natives made it doubtful at what 
point he reached the lake. The discovery of Lake 
Xyassa. as well as Lake Shirwa, was of immense import- 
ance, because they were both parallel to the ocean, and 
the whole traffic of the regions beyond must pass by this 
line. The configuration of the Shire valley, too, was 
favourable to colonisation. The valley occupied three 
different levels. First there was a plain on the level of 
the river, like that of the Nile, close and hot. Rising 
above this to the east there was another plain, 2000 feet 
high, three or four miles broad, salubrious and pleasant. 
Lastly, there was a third plain 3000- feet above the 
second, positively cold. To find such varieties of climate 
within a few miles of each other was most interesting. 

In other respects the region opened up was remark- 
able. There was a great amount of fertile land, and the 
products were almost endless. The people were indus- 
trious ; in the upper Shire", notwithstanding a great love 
of beer, they lived usually to a great age. Cleanliness 
was not a universal virtue ; the only way in which the 
Expedition could get rid of a troublesome follower was 
by threatening to wash him. The most disagreeable 
tiling in the appearance of the women was their lip- 
ornament, consisting of a ring of ivory or tin, either 
hollow or made into a cup, inserted in the upper lip. 
Dr. Livingstone used to give full particulars of this fear- 
ful practice, having the idea that the taste of ladies at 
home in dress and ornament was not free from similar 
absurdity ; or, a? lie wrote at this time to the Royal 
Geographical Society of Vienna, in acknowledging the 
honour of being made a corresponding member, — " be- 
cause our own ladies, who show so much virtuous perse- 
verance with their waists may wish to try lip ornament 
too." In regard to the other sex, he informed the same 



2 6o DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xii. 

Society — "I could see nothing encouraging for the gentle- 
men who are anxious to prove that we are all descended 
from a race that wore tails." 

In the highland regions of the Shire valley, the 
party were distinctly conscious of an increase of energy, 
from the more bracing climate. Dr. Livingstone was 
thoroughly convinced that these highlands of the Shire 
valley were the proper locality for commercial and mis- 
sionary stations. Thus one great object of the Expedition 
was accomplished. In another point of view/this locality 
would be highly serviceable for stations. It was the 
great pathway for conveying slaves from the north and 
north-west to Zanzibar. Of this he had only too clear 
evidence in the 'gangs of slaves whom he saw marched 
along from time to time, and whom he would have been 
most eager to release had he known of any way of pre- 
venting them from falling again into the hands of slave- 
sellers. In this region Englishmen " might enjoy good 
health, and also be of signal benefit, by leading the mul- 
titude of industrious inhabitants to cultivate cotton, 
maize, sugar, and other valuable produce, to exchange for 
goods of European manufacture, at the same time teaching 
them, by precept and example, the great truths of our 
holy religion." Water-carriage existed all the way from 
England, with the exception of the Murchison Cataracts, 
along which a road of forty miles might easily be made. 
A small steamer on the lake would do more good in sup- 
pressing the slave-trade than half-a-dozen men-of-war in 
the ocean. If the Zambesi could be opened to commerce 
the bright vision of the last ten years would be realised, 
and the Shire valley and banks of the Nyassa transformed 
into the garden of the Lord. 

From the very first Livingstone saw the importance 
of the Shire valley and Lake Nyassa as the key to 
Central Africa. Ever since, it has become more and 
more evident that his surmise was correct. TV make the 



1S5S-59] FIRST EXPLORATIONS OF THE SHIRE. 261 

occupation thoroughly effective, he thought much of the 
desirableness of a British colony, and was prepared to 
expend a great part of the remainder of his private means 
to carry it into effect. On August 4th, he says in his 
Journal : — 

■• 1 have a very strong desire to commence a system of colonisation 
of the honest poor; I would give £2000 or £3000 for the purpose. 
Intend to write my friend Young about it, and authorise him to draw 
if the project seems feasible. The Lord remember my desire, sanctify 
my motives, and purify all my desires. "Wrote him. 

" Colonisation from a country such as ours ought to be one of hope, 
and not of despair. It ought not to be looked upon as the last and 
worst shift that a family can come to, but the performance of an 
imperative duty to our blood, our country, our religion, and to human- 
kind. As soon as children begin to be felt an incumbrance, and what 
was properly in ancient times Old Testament blessings are no longer 
welcomed, parents ought to provide for removal to parts of this wide 
world where every accession is an addition of strength, and every 
member of the household feels in his inmost heart, 'the more the 
merrier.' It is a monstrous evil that all our healthy, handy, blooming 
daughters of England have not a fair chance at least to become the 
centres of domestic affections. The state of society, which precludes so 
many of them from occupying the position which Englishwomen are so 
well calculated to adorn, gives rise to enormous evils in the opposite sex 
— evils and wrongs which we dare not even name, — and national 
colonisation is almost the only remedy. Englishwomen are, in general, 
the most beautiful in the world, and yet our national emigration has 
often, by selecting the female emigrants from workhouses, sent forth 
the agliest huzzies in creation to be the mothers — the model mothers 
— of new empires. Here, as in other cases, State necessities have led 
to the ill-formed and ill-informed being preferred to the well-formed 
and well-inclined honest poor, as if the worst as well as better qualities 
of mankind did not often run in the blood." 

The idea of the colony quite fascinated Livingstone, 
and we find him writing on it fully to three of his most 
confidential business friends — Mr. Maclear, Mr. Young, 
and Sir Roderick Murchison. In all Livingstone's cor- 
respondence we find the tone of his letters modified by 
the character of his correspondents. While to Mr. Young 
and Sir Roderick he is somewhat cautious on the subject 
of the colony, knowing the keen practical eye they would 



262 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xn. 

direct on the proposal, to Mr. Maclear lie is more gushing. 
He writes to him : — 

" I feel such a gush of emotion on thinking of the great work 
before us that I must unburden my mind. I am becoming every day 
more decidedly convinced that English colonisation is an essential 
ingredient for our large success. ... In this new region of Highlands 
no end of good could be effected in developing the trade in cotton and 
in discouraging that in slaves. . . . You know how I have been led 
on from one step to another by the overruling Providence of the great 
Parent, as I believe, in order to a great good for Africa. ' Commit 
thy way unto the Lord, trust also in Him, and He will bring it to 
pass/ I have tried to do this, and now see the prospect in front 
spreading out grandly. . . . But how is the land so promising to be 
occupied ?'.•"."'. How many of our home poor are fighting hard to keep 
body and soul together ! . My heart yearns over our own poor when I 
see so much of God's fair earth unoccupied. Here it is really so ; for 
the people have only a few sheep and goats, and no cattle. I wonder 
why we cannot have the old monastery system without the celibacy. 
In no other part where I have been does the prospect of self-support 
seem so inviting, and promising so much influence. Most of what is 
done for the poor has especial reference to the blackguard poor." 

In his letter to Mr. Young he expressed his convic- 
tion that a great desideratum in mission agency was 
missionary emigration by honest Christian poor to give 
living examples of Christian life that would insure per- 
manency to the gospel once planted. He had always had 
a warm side to the English and Scottish poor — his own 
order, indeed. If twenty or thirty families would come 
out as an experiment, he was ready to give £2000 without 
saying from whom. He bids Mr. Young speak about the 
plan to Thorn of Chorley, Turner of Manchester, Lord 
Shaftesbury, and the Duke of Argyll. " Now, my friend," 
he adds, " do your best, and God's blessing be with you. 
Much is done for the blackguard poor. Let us remember 
our own class, and do good while we have opportunity. 
I hereby authorise you to act in my behalf, and do what- 
ever is to be done without hesitancy." 

These letters, and their references to the honest 
poor, are characteristic. We have seen that among Dr. 



IS5S-59-] FIRST EXPLORATIOXS OF THE SHIRE. 263 

Livingstone's forefathers and connections were some very 
noble specimens of the honest poor. It touched him to 
think that, with all their worth, their life had been one 
protracted struggle. His sympathies were cordially with 
the class. He desired with all his heart to see them with 
a little less of the burden and more of the comfort of 
life. And he believed very thoroughly that, as Christian 
settlers in a heathen country, they might do more to 
promote Christianity among the natives than solitary 
missionaries could accomplish. 

His parents and sisters were not forgotten. His letters 
to home are again somewhat in the apologetic vein. He 
feels that some explanation must be given of his own 
work, and some vindication of his coadjutors : — 

" We are working hard," he writes to his mother, " at what some 
can see at a glance the importance of, while to others we appear 
following after the glory of discovering lakes, mountains, jenny-nettles, 
and puddock-stools. In reference to these people I always remember 
a story told me by the late Dr. Philip with great glee. When a young 
minister in Aberdeen, he visited an old woman in affliction, and began 
to talk very fair to her on the duty of resignation, trusting, hoping, 
and all the rest of it, when the old woman looked up into his face, and 
said. ' Peer thing, ye ken naething aboot it.' This is what I say to 
those who set themselves up to judge another man's servant. We hope 
our good Master may permit us to do some good to our fellow-men." 

• His correspondence with Sir Roderick Murchison is 
likewise full of the idea of the colony. He is thoroughly 
naded that no good will ever be done by the Portu- 
guese. They are a worn-out people — utterly worn out 
by disease — their stamina consumed. Fresh European 
blood must be poured into Africa. In consequence of 
recent discoveries, he now sees his way open, and all his 
hopes of benefit to England and Africa about to be realised. 
This must have been one of Livingstone's happiest times. 
Visions of Christian colonies, of the spread of arts and 
civilisation, of the progress of Christianity and the 
Christian graces, of the cultivation of cotton and the 



264 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xii. 

disappearance of the slave-trade, floated before him. 
Already the wilderness seemed to be blossoming. But 
the bright consummation was not so near as it seemed. 
One source of mischief was yet unchecked, and from it 
disastrous storms were preparing +<p break on the enter- 
prise. 

On his way home, Dr. Livingstone's health was not 
satisfactory, but this did not keep him from duty. " lith 
October. — Went on 17th part way up to Murchison's 
Cataracts, and yesterday reached it. Very ill with bleed- 
ing from the bowels and purging. Bled all night. Got 
up at one a.m. to take latitude.'' 

At length, on 4th November 1859, letters reached him 
from his family. " A letter from Mrs. L. says we were 
blessed with a little daughter on 16th November 1858 at 
Kuruman. A fine healthy child. The Lord bless and 
make her His own child in heart and life ! " She had 
been nearly a year in the world before he heard of her 
existence. 



i860.] GOIXG HOME WITH THE MAKOLOLO. 265 



CHAPTER XIIL 

GOING HOME WITH THE MAKOLOLO. 
A.D. 1860. 

Dcm-n to Kongone— State of the ship — Further delay— Letter to Secretary of 
Universities Mission — Letter to Mr. Braithwaite — At Tette — Miss Whately's 
sugar-mill— With his brother and Kirk at Kebrabasa— Mode of travelling — 
1 it-appearance of old frieiuls — African warfare and its effects— Desolation — A 
European colony desirable — Escape from rhinoceros — Rumours of Moffat — 
The Portuguese local Governors oppose Livingstone — He becomes unpopular 
with them— Letter to Mr. Young — Wants of the country — The Makololo — 
Approach home — Some are disappointed — News of the death of the London 
missionaries, the Helmores and others — Letter to Dr. Moffat — The Victoria 
Falls re-examined — Sekeletu ill of leprosy — Treatment and recovery — His 
disappointment at not seeing Mrs. Livingstone — Efforts for the spiritual good 
of the Makololo — Careful observations in Natural History — The last of the 
""Ma-Robert " — Cheering prospect of the Universities Mission — Letter to 
Mr. Moore — to Mr. Young — He wishes another ship — Letter to Sir Roderick 
Murchison on the rumoured journey of Silva Porto. 

It was necessary to go down to Kongone for the repair 
of the si lip. Livingstone was greatly disappointed with 
it, and thought the greed of the vendor had supplied him 
with a very inferior article for the price of a good one. 
He thus pours forth his vexation in writing to a friend: 
"Very grievous it is to be standing here tinkering when 
we might be doing good service to the cause of African 
civilisation, and that on account of insatiable greediness. 
Burton may thank L. and B. that we were not at the 
other Likes before him. The loss of time greediness 
has inflicted on us has been frightful. My plan in this 
Expedition was excellent, but it did not include pro- 
visions against hypocrisy and fraud, which have sorely 



266 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xm. 

crippled us, and, indeed, ruined us as a scientific ex- 
pedition." 

Another delay was caused before they went inwards, 
from their having to wait for a season suitable for hunt- 
ing, as the party had to be kept in food. The mail from 
England had been lost, and they had the bitter disappoint- 
ment of losing a year's correspondence from home. The 
following portions of a letter to the Secretary of the 
Committee for a Universities Mission gives a view of the 
situation at this time : — 

"Rtver Zambesi, 2Qth Jan. 1860. 

" The defects we have unfortunately experienced in the 'Ma-Robert,' 
or rather the * Asthmatic,' are so numerous that it would require a 
treatise as long as a lawyer's specification of any simple subject to 
give you any idea of them, and they have inflicted so much toil that 
a feeling of sickness comes over me when I advert to them. 

" No one will ever believe the toil we have been put to in wood- 
cutting. The quantity consumed is enormous, and we cannot get 
sufficient for speed into the furnace. It was only a dogged determina- 
tion not to be beaten that carried me through. . . . But all will come 
out right at last. We are not alone, though truly we deserve not His 
presence. He encourages the trust that is granted by the word, 'I 
am with you, even unto the end of the world.' ... 

" It is impossible for you to conceive how backward everything is 
here, and the Portuguese are not to be depended upon ; their establish- 
ments are only small penal settlements, and as no women are sent out, 
the state of morals is frightful. The only chance of success is away 
from them ; nothing would prosper in their vicinity. After all, I am 
convinced that were Christianity not divine, it would be trampled out 
by its professors. Dr. Kirk, Mr. C. Livingstone, and Mr. Rae, with 
two English seamen, do well. We are now on our way up the river 
to the Makololo country, but must go overland from Kebrabasa, or in 
a whaler. We should be better able to plan our course if our letters 
had not been lost. We have never been idle, and do not mean to be. 
We have been trying to get the Portuguese Government to acknow- 
ledge free-trade on this river, and but for long delay in our letters 
the negotiation might have been far advanced. I hope Lord John 
Russell will help in this matter, and then we must have a small colony 
or missionary and mercantile settlement. If this our desire is granted, 
it is probable we shall have no cause to lament our long toil and 
detention here. My wife's letters too, were lost, so I don't know how 
or where she is. Our separation, and the work I have been engaged 
in, were not contemplated, but they have led to our opening a path 



i860.] GOIXG HOME WITH THE MAKOLOLO. 267 

into the fine cotton-field in the North. You will sec that the dis- 
coveries of Burton and Speke confirm mine respecting the form of the 
continent and its fertility. It is an immense field. I crave the honour 
of establishing a focus of Christianity in it, but should it not be granted, 
I will submit as most unworthy. I have written Mr. Venn twice, and 
from yours I see something is contemplated in Cambridge. ... If 
young men come to this country, they must lay their account with 
doing everything for themselves. They must not expect to find 
influence at once, and all the countries near to the Portuguese have been 
greatly depopulated. "We are now ascending this river without veget- 
ables, and living on salt beef and pork. The slave-trade has done its 
work, for formerly all kinds of provisions could be procured at every 
point, and at the cheapest rate. We cannot get anything for either 
love or money, in a country the fertility of which is truly astonishing." 

A few more general topics are touched on in a letter 
to Mr. Braithwaite : — 

" I am sorry to hear of the death of Mr. Sturge. He wrote me a 
long letter on the 'Peace principle,' and before I could study it care- 
fully, it Mas mislaid. I wrote him from Tette, as I did not wish him 
to suppose I neglected him, and mentioned the murder of the six 
Makololo and other things, as difficulties in the way of adopting his 
views, as they were perfectly unarmed, and there was no feud between 
the tribes. I fear that my letter may not have reached him alive. 
The departure of Sir Fowell Buxton and others is very unexpected. 
Sorry to see the loss of Dr. Bo wen of Sierra Leone — a good man and 
a true. But there is One who ever liveth to make intercession for us, 
and to carry on His own work. A terrible war that was in Italy, and 
the peace engenders more uneasy forebodings than any peace ever 
heard of. It is well that God and not the devil reigns, and will bring 
Hia own purposes to pass, right through the midst of the wars and 
passions of men. Have you any knowledge of a famous despatch 
written by Sir George Grey (late of the Cape), on the proper treatment 
of native tribes ] I wish to study it. 

"Tell your children that if I could get hold of a hippopotamus I 
would eat it rather than allow it to eat me. We see them often, but 
before we .L r '-t near enough to get a shot they dive down, and remain 
hidden till ire are past. As for lions, we never see them — sometimes 
hear a roar or two, but that is all, and I go on the plan put forth by a 
little girl in Scotland who saw a cow coming to her in a meadow, '0 
boo ! boo : you no hurt me, I no hurt you.'" 

At Tette one of his occupations was to fit up a sugar- 
mill, the gift of Miss Whately of I hiblin, and some Mends. 
T<> that lady lie writes a long letter of nineteen pages. 
He tells her he had just put up her beautiful sugar-mill, 



268 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xm. 

to show the natives what could be done by machinery. 
Then he adverts to the wonderful freedom from sickness 
that his party had enjoyed in the delta of the Zambesi, 
and proceeds to give an account of the Shire valley and 
its people. He finds ground for a favourable contrast 
between the Shire natives and the Tette Portuguese : — 

" They (the natives) have fences made to guard the women from 
the alligators, all along the Shire" ; at Tette they have none, and two 
women were taken past our vessel in the mouths of these horrid brutes. 
The number of women taken is so great as to make the Portuguese 
swear every time they speak of them, and yet, when I proposed to the 
priest to make a collection for a fence, and offered twenty dollars, he 
only smiled. You Protestants don't know all the good you do by 
keeping our friends of the only true and infallible Church up to their 
duty. Here, and in Angola, we see how it is, when they are not pro- 
voked — if not to love, to good works. . . . 

"On telling the Makololo that the sugar-mill had been sent to • 
Sekeletu by a lady, who collected a sum among other ladies to buy it, 
they replied, ' na le pelu ' — she has a heart. I was very proud of it, 
and so were they. 

"... With reference to the future, I am trying to do what I did 
before — obey the injunction, * Commit thy way to the Lord, trust also 
in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.' And I hope that He will 
make some use of me. My attention is now directed specially to the 
fact that there is no country better adapted for producing the raw 
materials of English manufactures than this. . . . 

" See to what a length I have run. I have become palaverist. I 
beg you to present my respectful salutation to the Archbishop and 
Mrs. Whately, and should you meet any of the kind contributors, say 
how thankful I am to them all." 

From Tette he writes to Sir Roderick Murchison, 7th 
February 1860, urging his plan for a steamer on Lake 
Nyassa : " If Government furnishes the means, all right ; 
if not, I shall spend my book-money on it. I don't need 
to touch the children's fund, and mine could not be 
better spent. People who are born rich sometimes 
become miserable from a fear of becoming poor; but 
I have the advantage, you see, in not being afraid to 
die poor. If I live, I must succeed in what I have 
undertaken ; death alone will put a stop to my efforts." 

A month after he writes to the same friend, from 



iS6o.] GOIXG HOME WITH THE MAKOLOLO. 269 

Kongone, 10th March IS GO, that lie is sending Rae home 
for a vessel : — 

" I tell Lord John Russell that he (Rae) may thereby do us more ser- 
vice than he can now do in a worn-out steamer, with 35 patches, cover- 
ing at least 100 holes. I say to his Lordship, that after we have, by 
patient investigation and experiment, at the risk of life, rendered the 
fever not more formidable than a common cold ; found access, from a 
good harbour on the coast, to the main stream ; and discovered a path- 
way into the magnificent Highland lake region, which promises so 
fairly for our commerce in cotton, and for our policy in suppressing 
the trade in slaves, I earnestly hope that he will crown our efforts by 
securing our free passage through those parts of the Zambesi and Shire 
of which the Portuguese make no use, and by enabling us to introduce 
civilisation in a manner which will extend the honour and influence 
of the English name." 

In his communications with the Government at home, 
Livingstone never failed to urge the importance of their 
securing the free navigation of the Zambesi. The Por- 
tuguese on the river were now beginning to get an 
inkling of his drift, and to feel indignant at any counten- 
ance he was receiving from their own Government. 

Passing up the Zambesi with Charles Livingstone, 
Dr. Kirk, and such of the Makololo as were willing to 
go home, Dr. Livingstone took a new look at Kebrabasa, 
from a different point, still believing that in flood it would 
allow a steamer to pass. Of his mode of travelling we 
have some pleasant glimpses. He always tried to make 
progress more a pleasure than a toil, and found that 
kindly consideration for the feelings even of blacks, the 
(.leisure of observing scenery and everything new, as 
one moves on at an ordinary pace, and the participation 
in the most delightful rest with his fellows, made travel- 
ling delightful. He was gratified to find that he was as 
able for the fatigue as the natives. Even the headman, 
who carried little more than he did himself, and never, 
like him, hunted in the afternoon, was not equal to him. 
The hunting was no small addition to the toil; the tired 
hunter was often tempted to give it up, after bringing 



270 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xm. 

what would have been only sufficient for the three whites, 
and leave the rest, thus sending "the idle, ungrateful 
poor" supperless to bed. But this was not his way. 
The blacks were thought of in hunting as well as the 
whites. "It is only by continuance in well-doing," he 
says, " even to the length of what the worldly-wise call 
weakness, that the conviction is produced anywhere, 
that our motives are high enough to secure sincere 
respect." 

As they proceeded, some of his old acquaintances 
reappeared, notably Mpende, who had given him such a 
threatening reception, but had now learned that he 
belonged to a tribe " that loved the black man and did 
not make slaves." A chief named Pangola appeared, at 
first tipsy and talkative, demanding a rifle, and next 
morning, just as they were beginning divine service, 
reappeared sober to press his request. Among the 
Baenda-Pezi, or Go-Nakeds, whose only clothing is a 
coat of red ochre, a noble specimen of the race appeared 
in full dress, consisting of a long tobacco-pipe, and 
brought a handsome present. 

The country bore the usual traces of the results of 
African warfare. At times a clever chief stands up, who 
brings large tracts under his dominion ; at his death his 
empire dissolves, and a fresh series of desolating wars 
ensues. In one region which was once studded with 
villages, they walked a whole week without meeting 
any one. A European colony, he was sure, would be 
invaluable for constraining the tribes to live in peace. 
" Thousands of industrious natives would gladly settle 
round it, and engage in that peaceful pursuit of agricul- 
ture and trade of which they are so fond, and, undistracted 
by wars and rumours of wars, might listen to the purifying 
and ennobling truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ." 
At Zumbo, the most picturesque site in the country, they 
saw the ruins of Jesuit missions, reminding them that 



iS6o.] GOIXG HOME WITH THE MAKOLOLO. 271 

there men once met to utter the magnificent words, 
"Thou art the King of Glory, Christ!" but without 
leaving one permanent trace of their labours in the belief 
and worship of the people. 

Wherever they go, Dr. Livingstone has his eye on 
the trees and plants and fruits of the region, with a view 
to commerce ; while he is no less interested to watch the 
treatment of fever, when cases occur, and greatly gratified 
that Dr. Kirk, who had been trying a variety of medicines 
on himself, made rapid recovery when he took Dr. Living- 
stone's pills. He used to say if he had followed Morison, 
and set up as pill-maker, he might have made his fortune. 
Passing through the Bazizulu he had an escape from a 
rhinoceros, as remarkable though not quite as romantic 
as his escape from the lion ; the animal came dashing at 
him, and suddenly, for some unknown reason, stopped 
when close to him, and gave him time to escape, as if it 
had been struck by his colour, and doubtful if hunting 
a white man would be good sport. 

At a month's distance from Mosilikatse, they heard a 
report that the missionaries had been there, that they 
had told the chief that it was wrong to kill men, and 
that the chief had said he was born to kill people, but 
would drop the practice — an interesting testimony to the 
] lower of Mr. Moffat's words. Everywhere the Makololo 
proclaimed that they were the friends of peace, and their 
course was like a triumphal procession, the people of the 
villages Ion ding them with presents. 

But a new revelation came to Dr. Livingstone. 
Though the Portuguese Government had given public 
orders that he was to be aided in every possible way, 
it was evident that private instructions had come, which, 
unintentionally perhaps, certainly produced the opposite 
effects. The Portuguese who were engaged in the slave- 
trade were far too much devoted to it ever to encourage 
an enterprise that aimed at extirpating it. Indeed, it 



272 DAVID LIVINGSTONE, [chap. xiii. 

became painfully apparent to Dr. Livingstone that tHe 
effect of his opening up the Zambesi had been to afford 
the Portuguese traders new facilities for conducting their 
unhallowed traffic ; and had it not been for his promise 
to bring back the Makololo, he would now have abandoned 
the Zambesi and tried the Rovuma, as a way of reaching 
Nyassa. His future endeavours in connection with the 
Rovuma receive their explanation from this unwelcome 
discovery. The significance of the discovery in other 
respects cannot fail to be seen. Hitherto Livingstone 
had been on friendly terms with the Portuguese Govern- 
ment ; he could be so no longer. The remarkable 
kindness he had so often received from Portuguese 
officers and traders made it a most painful trial to break 
with the authorities. But there was no alternative. 
Livingstone's courage was equal to the occasion, though 
he could not but see that his new attitude to the Portu- 
guese must give an altered aspect to his expedition, and 
create difficulties that might bring it to an end. 

A letter to Mr. James Young, dated 2 2d July, near 
Kalosi, gives a free and familiar account of " what he was 
about :" — 

"This is July 1860, and no letter from you except one written a 
few months after we sailed in the year of grace 1858. What you are 
doing I cannot divine. I am ready to believe any mortal thing except 
that Louis Napoleon has taken you away to make paraffin oil for 
the Tuileries. I don't believe that he is supreme ruler, or that he 
can go an inch beyond his tether. Well, as I cannot conceive what 
you are about, I must tell you what we are doing, and we are just 
trudging up the Zambesi as if there were no steam and no locomotive 
but shank's nag yet discovered. . . . 

" We have heard of a mission for the Interior from the English 
Universities, and this is the best news we have got since we came to 
Africa. I have recommended up Shire as a proper sphere, and hasten 
back so as to be in the way if any assistance can be rendered. I 
rejoice at the prospect with all my heart, and am glad, too, that it is 
to be a Church of England Mission, for that Church has never put 
forth its strength, and I trust this may draw it forth. I am tired of 
discovery when no fruit follows. It was refreshing to be able to sit 



i860.] GOING HOME WITH THE MAKOLOLO. 273 

down every evening with the Makololo again, and tell them of Him 
who came down from heaven to save sinners. The unmerciful toil 
of the steamer prevented me from following my bent as I should have 
done. Poor fellows ! they have learned no good from their contact 
with slavery ; many have imbibed the slave spirit ; many had married 
slave women and got children. These I did not expect to return, as 
they were captives of Sekeletu, and were not his own proper people. 
All professed a strong desire to return. To test them I proposed to burn 
their village, but to this they would not assent. We then went out a 
few miles and told them that any one wishing to remain might do so 
without guilt. A few returned, but though this was stated to them 
repeatedly afterwards they preferred running away like slaves. I 
never saw any of the interior people so devoid of honour. Some com- 
plained of sickness, and all these I sent back, intrusting them with 
their burdens. About twenty-five returned in all to live at Tette. 
Some were drawn away by promises made to them as elephant- 
hunters. I had no objection to their trying to better their condition, 
but was annoyed at finding that they would not tell their intentions, 
but ran away as if I were using compulsion. I have learned more of 
the degrading nature of slavery of late than I ever conceived befors, 
Our 20 millions were well spent in ridding ourselves of the incubus, 
and I think we ought to assist our countrymen in the West Indies to 
import free labour from India. ... I cannot tell you how glad I am 
at a prospect of a better system being introduced into Eastern Africa 
than that which has prevailed for ages, the evils of which have only 
been intensified by Portuguese colonisation, as it is called. Here Ave 
are passing through a well-peopled, fruitful region — a prolonged 
valley, for we have the highlands far on our right. I did not observe 
before that all the banks of the Zambesi are cotton fields. I never 
intended to write a book and take no note of cotton, which I now 
see everywhere. On the Chongwe we found a species which is culti- 
vated south of the Zambesi, which resembles some kinds from South 
America 

" All that is needed is religious and mercantile establishments to 
begin a better system and promote peaceful intercourse. Here we are 
among a people who go stark naked with no more sense of shame than 
we have with our clothes on. The women have more sense, and go 
decently. You see great he-animals all about your camp carrying 
their indispensable tobacco-pipes and iron tongs to lift fire with, but 
the idea of a fig-leaf has never entered the mind. They cultivate 
largely, have had enormous crops of grain, work well in iron, and 
show taste in their dwellings, stools, baskets, and musical instruments. 
They an- very hospitable too, and appreciate our motives ; but shame 
has been unaccountably left out of the question. They can give no 
reason for it except that all their ancestors went exactly as they do. 
Can you explain why Adam's first feeling has no trace of existence in 
his offspring ] " 

S 



274 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xiii. 

When the party reached the outskirts of Sekeletu's 
territory the news they heard was not encouraging. 
Some of the men heard that in their absence some of 
their wives had been variously disposed of. One had 
been killed for witchcraft, another had married again, 
while Masakasa was told that two years ago a kind of 
wild Irish wake had been celebrated in honour of his 
memory ; the news made him resolve, when he presented 
himself among them, to declare himself an inhabitant of 
another world ! One poor fellow's wail of anguish for his 
wife was most distressing to hear. 

But far more tragical was the news of the missionaries 
who had gone from the London Missionary Society to 
Linyanti, to labour among Sekeletu's people. Mr. and 
Mrs. Helmore and several of his party had succumbed to 
fever, and the survivors had retired. Dr. Livingstone 
was greatly distressed, and not a little hurt, because he 
had not heard a word about the mission, nor been asked 
advice about any of the arrangements. If only the Hel- 
mores and their comrades had followed the treatment 
practised by him so often, and in this very valley at this 
time by his brother Charles, they would probably have 
recovered. All spoke kindly of Mr. Helmore, who had 
quite won the hearts of the people. Knowing their 
language, he had at once begun to preach, and some of 
the young men at Sesheke were singing the hymns he 
had taught them. Humours had gone abroad that some 
of the missionaries had been poisoned. In some quarters 
blame was cast on Livingstone for having misled the 
Society as to the character of Sekeletu and his disposition 
toward missionaries ; but Livingstone satisfied himself 
that, though the missionaries had been neglected no foul 
play had taken place ; fever alone had caused the deaths, 
and want of skill in managing the people had brought 
the remainder of the troubles. One piece of good news 
which he heard at Linyanti was that his old friend 



iS6o.] GOIXG HOME WITH THE MAKOLOLO. 275 

Sechele was doing well. Pie had a Hanoverian mission- 
My, nine tribes were under him, and the schools were 
numerously attended. 

Writing to Dr. Moffat, 10th August 1860, from Zam- 
besi Falls, he says : — 

" With great sorrow we learned the death of our much-esteemed 
friends, Mr. and Mrs. Helmore, two days ago. We were too late to 
be of any service, for the younger missionaries had retired, probably 
dispirited by the loss of their leader. It is evident that the fever 
when untreated is as fatal now as it proved in the case of Commodore 
Owen's officers in this river, or in the great Niger Expedition. And yet 
what poor drivel was poured forth when I adopted energetic measures 
fo* speedily removing any Europeans out of the Delta. We were not 
then aware that the remedy which was first found efficacious in our 
own little Thomas on Lake 'Ngami, in 1850, and that cured myself 
attendants during my solitary journeyings, was a certain cure for 
the disease, without loss of strength in Europeans generally. This 
we now know by ample experience to be the case. Warburg's drops, 
which have a great reputation in India, here cause profuse perspiration 
only, and the fever remains uncured. With our remedy, of which we 
make no secret, a man utterly prostrated is roused to resume his march 
next day. I have sent the prescription to John, as I doubt being able 
to go so far south as Mosilikatse's." 

Again the grand Victoria Falls are reached, and 
Charles Livingstone, who has seen Niagara, gives the 
preference to Mosi-oa-tunya. By the route which they 
took, they would have passed the Falls at twenty miles' 
distance, hut Dr. Livingstone could not resist the temp- 
tation to show them to his companions. All his former 
computations as to their size were found to be consider- 
ably within the mark ; instead of a thousand yards broad 
they were more than eighteen hundred, and whereas he 
had said that the height of fall was about 100 feet, it 
turned out to be 310. His habit of keeping within the 
mark in all his statements of remarkable things was thus 
exemplified. 

On coming among his old friends the Makololo, he 
found them in low spirits owing to protracted drought, 
and Sekelctu was ill of leprosy. He was in the hands of 



276 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xiii. 

a native doctress, who was persuaded to suspend tier 
treatment, and the lunar caustic applied by Drs. Living- 
stone and Kirk had excellent effects. 1 On going to Lin- 
yanti, Dr. Livingstone found the wagon and other 
articles which he had left there in 1853, safe and sound, 
except from the effects of weather and the white ants. 
The expressions of kindness and confidence towards him 
on the part of the natives greatly touched him. The 
people were much disappointed at not seeing Mrs. Living- 
stone and the children. But this confidence was the 
result of his way of dealing with them. " It ought never 
to be forgotten that influence among the heathen can be 
acquired only by patient continuance in well-doing, and 
that good manners are as necessary among barbarians as 
among the civilised." The Makololo were the most inter- 
esting tribe that Dr. Livingstone had ever seen. While 
now with them he was unwearied in his efforts for their 
spiritual good. In his Journal we find these entries : — 



2, 1860. — On Sunday evening went over to the peoj)le, 
giving a general summary of Christian faith by the life of Christ. Asked 
them to speak about it afterwards. Replied that these things were 
above them — they could not answer me. I said if I spoke of camels 
and buffaloes tamed, they understood, though they had never seen 
them ; why not perceive the story of Christ, the witnesses to which 
refused to deny it, though killed for maintaining it 1 Went on to 
speak of the resurrection. All were listening eagerly to the statements 
about this, especially when they heard that they too must rise and be 
judged. Lerimo said, * This I won't believe.' ' Well, the guilt lies 
between you and Jesus.' This always arrests attention. Spoke of 
blood shed by them ; the conversation continued till they said, ' It 
was time for me to cross, for the river was dangerous at night.' " 

" September 9. — Spoke to the people on the north side of the river 
— wind prevented evening service on the south." 

The last subject on which he preached before leaving 
them on this occasion was the great resurrection. They 
told him they could not believe a reunion of the particles 

1 In 1864, while residing at Newstead Abbey, and writing his book, The Zam- 
besi and its Tributaries, Dr. Livingstone heard of the death of Sekeletu. 



iS6o.] GOIXG HOME WITH THE MAKOLOLO. 277 

of the body possible. Dr. Livingstone gave them in 
reply a chemical illustration, and then referred to the 
authority of the Book that taught them the doctrine. 
And the poor people were more willing to give in to the 
authority of the Book than to the chemical illustration! 

In The Zambesi and its Tributaries this journey to 
the Makololo country and back occupies one-third of the 
volume, though it did not lead to any very special results. 
But it enabled Dr. Livingstone to make great additions 
to his knowledge both of the people and the country. 
His observations are recorded with the utmost care, for 
though he might not be able to turn them to immediate 
use, it was likely, and even certain, that they would be 
useful some day. Indeed the spirit of faith is apparent 
in the whole narrative, as if he could not pass over even 
the most insignificant details. The fish in the rivers, the 
wild animals in the woods, the fissures in the rocks, the 
course of the streams, the composition of the minerals and 
gravels, and a thousand other phenomena, are carefully 
observed and chronicled. The crowned cranes beginning 
to pair, the flocks of spurwinged geese, the habits of the 
ostrich, the nests of bee-eaters, pass under review in rapid 
succession. His sphere of observation ranges from the 
structure of the great continent itself to the serrated 
bone of the konokono, or the mandible of the ant. 

Leaving Sesheke on the 17th September, they reached 
Tette on the 23d November 1860, whence they started 
for Kongone with the unfortunate " Ma-Robert." But 
the days of that asthmatic old lady were numbered. On 
the 21st December she grounded on a sandbank, and 
could not get off. A few days before this catastrophe 
Livingstone writes to Mr. Young : — 

"Lupat'i, ifli Dec. 1860. — Many thanks for all you have been 
doing about the steamer and everything else. You seem to have 
gone about matters in a most business-like manner, and once for all I 
assure you I am deeply grateful. 



278 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xiii. 

" We are now on our way down to the sea, in hopes of meeting 
the new steamer for which you and other friends exerted yourselves 
so zealously. We are in the old ' Asthmatic,' though we gave her up 
before leaving in May last. Our engineer has been doctoring her 
bottom with fat and patches, and pronounced it safe to go down the 
river by dropping slowly. Every day a new leak bursts out, and he is 
in plastering and scoring, the pump going constantly. I would not 
have ventured again, but our whaler is as bad — all eaten by the 
teredo, — so I thought it as well to take both, and stick to that which 
swims longest. You can put your thumb through either of them ; 
they never can move again ; I never expected to find either afloat, 
but the engineer had nothing else to do, and it saves us from buying 
dear canoes from the Portuguese. 

" 20th Dec. — One day, above Senna, the 'Ma-Kobert' stuck on a 
sandbank and filled, so we had to go ashore and leave her." 

The correspondence of this year indicates a growing 
delight at the prospect of the Universities Mission. It 
was this, indeed, mainly that kept up his spirits under 
the depression caused by the failure of the " Ma-Robert," 
and other mishaps of the Expedition, the endless delays 
and worries that had resulted from that cause, and the 
manner in which both the Portuguese and the French 
were counter-working him by encouraging the slave-trade. 
While professedly encouraging emigration, the French 
were really extending slavery. 

Here is his lively account of himself to his friend 
Mr. Moore :— 

"Tette, 28th November 1860. 
" My dear Moore, — And why didn't you begin when you were 
so often on the point of writing, but didn't? This that you have 
accomplished is so far good, but very short. Hope you are not too 
old to learn. You have heard of our hindrances and annoyances, and, 
possibly, that we have done some work notwithstanding. Thanks to 
Providence, we have made some progress, and it is likely our operations 
will yet have a decided effect on slave-trading in Eastern Africa. I 
am greatly delighted with the prospect of a Church of England mission 
to Central Africa. That is a good omen for those who are sitting in 
darkness, and I trust that in process of time great benefits will be con- 
ferred on our own overcrowded population at home. There is room 
enough and to spare in the fair world our Father has prepared for all 
His progeny. I pray to be made a harbinger of good to many, both 
white and black. 



i860.] GOIXG HOME WITH THE MAKOLOLOl 279 

" I like to hear that some abase mo now, and say that I am no 
Christian. Many good things wore said of me which I did not deserve, 
and I feared to road them. I shall read every word I can on the 
other side, and that will prove a sedative to what I was forced to hear 
of an opposite tendency. I pray that He who has lifted me up and 
guided me thus far, will not desert me now, but make me useful in 
my day and generation. ' I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.' 
So let it be. 

" I saw poor Helmore's grave lately. Had my book been searched 
for excellencies, they might have seen a certain cure for African fever. 
We were curing it at a lower and worse part of the river at the very 
time that they were helplessly perishing, and so quickly, that more 
than a day was never lost after the operation of the remedy, though 
we were marching on foot. Our tramp was over 600 miles. We 
dropped down stream again in canoes from Sinamanero to Chicova — 
thence to this on shank's nag. We go down to the sea immediately, 
to meet our new steamer. Our punt was a sham and a snare. 

11 My love to Mary and all the children, with all our friends at 
Congleton." 

In a letter to Mr. James Young, Dr. Livingstone 
gives good reasons for not wishing to push the colonisa- 
tion scheme at present, as he had recommended to the 
Universities Mission to add a similar enterprise to their 
undertaking : — 

" If you read all I have written you by this mail, yon will deserve 
to be called a literary character. I find that I did not touch on the 
colonisation scheme. I have not changed in respect to it, but the 
Oxford and Cambridge mission have taken the matter up, and as I 
shall do all I can to aid them, a little delay will, perhaps, be advis- 
able. 

" We are waiting for our steamer, and expect her every day ; our 
first trip is a secret, and you will keep it so. We go to the Ilovuma, 
a river exterior to the Portuguese claims, as soon as the vessel arrives. 
Captain Oldfield of the 'Lyra' is sent already, to explore, as far as he 
can, in that ship. The entrance is fine, and forty-five miles are known, 
but we keep our movements secret from the Portuguese — and so must 
you ; they seize everything they see in the newspapers. Who are my 

imprudent friends that publish everything ] I suspect Mr. of , 

but no one gives me a name or a clue. Some expected me to feel 
at being jewed by a false philanthropist, and bamboozled by a 
silly P. X. I did not, and could not, seem so; but I shall be more 
careful in future. 

•• Again back to the colony. It is not to sleep, but preparation 
must be made by coll' ting information, and maturing our plans. I 



^ 



DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap, xin, 

shall be able to give definite instructions as soon as I see bow the other 
mission works — at its beginning — and when we see if the new route 
we may discover has a better path to Nyassa than by Shire — we shall 
choose the best, of course, and let you know as soon as possible. I 
think the Government will not hold back if we have a feasible plan to 
offer. I have recommended to the Universities Mission a little delay 
till we explore, — and for a working staff, two gardeners acquainted 
with farming ; two country carpenters, capable of erecting sheds and 
any rough work; two traders to purchase and prepare cotton for 
exportation; one general steward of mission goods, his wife to be 
a good plain cook ; one medical man, having knowledge of chemistry 
enough to regulate indigo and sugar-making. All the attendants to be 
married, and their wives to be employed in sewing, washing, attending 
the sick, etc., as need requires. The missionaries not to think them- 
selves deserving a good English wife till they have erected a com- 
fortable abode for her." 

In the Royal Geographical Society this year (i860), 
certain communications were read which tended to call in 
question Livingstone's right to some of the discoveries he 
had claimed as his own. Mr. Macqueen, through whom 
these communications came, must have had peculiar 
notions of discovery, for some time before, there had 
appeared in the Cape papers a statement of his, that 
Lake 'Ngami of 1859 was no new discovery, as Dr. 
Livingstone had visited it seven years before ; and Living- 
stone had to write to the papers in favour of the claims 
of Murray, Oswell, and Livingstone, against himself ! It 
had been asserted to the Society by Mr. Macqueen, that 
Silva Porto, a Portuguese trader, had shown him a journal 
describing a journey of his from Benguela on the west 
to Ibo and Mozambique on the east, beginning November 
26, 1852, and terminating August 1854. Of that journal 
Mr. Macqueen read a copious abstract to the Society 
(June 27, 1859) which is published in the Journal for 
1860. 

In a letter to Sir Roderick Murchison (20th February 
1861), Livingstone, while exonerating Mr. Macqueen of 
all intention of misleading, gives his reasons for doubt- 
ing whether the. journey to the East Coast ever took 



iS6o.] GOIXG HOME WITH THE MAKOLOLO. 281 

place. He had met Porto at Linyanti in 1853, and sub- 
sequently at Naliele, the Barotse capital, and had been 
told by him that he had tried to go eastwards, but had 
been obliged to turn, and was then going westwards, 
and wished him to accompany him, which he declined, 
as he was a slave-trader ; he had read his journal as it 
appeared in the Loanda " Boletim," but there was not 
a word in it of a journey to the East Coast ; when tho 
Portuguese minister had wished to find a rival to Dr. 
Livingstone, he had brought forward, not Porto, as he 
would naturally have done if this had been a genuine 
journey, but two black men who came to Tette in 1815 ; 
in the Boletim of Mozambique there was no word of the 
arrival of Porto there ; in short, the part of the journal 
founded on could not have been authentic. Livingstone 
felt keenly on the subject of these rumours, not on his 
own account, but on account of the Geographical Society 
and of Sir Roderick who had introduced him to it ; for 
nothing could have given him more pain than that either 
of these should have had any slur thrown on them through 
him, or even been placed for a time in an uncomfortable 
position. 



282 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap, xr? 



CHAPTER XIV. 

ROVUMA AND NYASSA — UNIVERSITIES MISSION. 
A.D. 1861-1862. 

Beginning of 1861 — Arrival of the "Pioneer" — and of the agents of Universities 
Mission — Cordial welcome — Livingstone's catholic feelings — Ordered to ex- 
plore the Rovuma — Bishop Mackenzie goes with him — Returns to the Shire — 
Turning-point of prosperity past — Difficult navigation — The slave-sticks — 
Bishop settles at Magomero— Hostilities between Manganja and Ajawa — Attack 
of Mission party by Ajawa — Livingstone's advice to Bishop regarding them 
— Letter to his son Robert — Livingstone, Kirk, and Charles start for Lake 
Nyassa — Party robbed at north of Lake — Dismal activity of the slave-trade- 
Awful mortality in the process — Livingstone's fondness for Punch —Letter to 
Mr. Young — Joy at departure of new steamer "Lady Nyassa" — Colonisation 
project — Letter against it from Sir R. Murchison — Hears of Dr. Stewart 
coming out from Free Church of Scotland — Visit at the ship from Bishop 
Mackenzie— News of defeat of Ajawa by missionaries — Anxiety of Livingstone 
— Arrangements for "Pioneer " to go to Kongone for new steamer and friends 
from home, then go to Ruo to meet Bishop — "Pioneer" detained — Dr. 
Livingstone's anxieties and depression at New Year — "Pioneer" misses man- 
of-war "Gorgon" — At length "Gorgon" appears with brig from England 
and "Lady Nyassa" — Mrs. Livingstone and other ladies on board — Living- 
stone's meeting with his wife, and with Dr. Stewart — Stewart's recollections — 
Difficulties of navigation — Captain Wilson of "Gorgon" goes up river and 
hears of death of Bishop Mackenzie and Mr. Burrup — Great distress — Mis- 
representations about Universities Mission — Miss Mackenzie and Mr. Burrup 
taken to "Gorgon" — Dr. and Mrs. Livingstone return to Shupanga — Illness 
and death of Mrs. Livingstone — Extracts from Livingstone's Journal and 
letters to the Moffats, Agnes, and the Murchisons. 

The beginning of 1861 brought some new features 
on the scene. The new steamer, the "Pioneer," a/fc last 
arrived, and was a great improvement on the "Ma-Robert/' 
though unfortunately she had too great draught of water. 
The agents of the Universities Mission also arrived, the 
first detachment consisting of Bishop Mackenzie and five 
other Englishmen, and five coloured men from the 



i86i-62.] UNIVERSITIES MISSION, 2S3 

Cape. Writing familiarly to his friend Moore, d propos 
of his new comrades of the Church Mission, Livingstone 

3 : — " I have never felt anyways inclined to turn 
( Churchman or dissenter either, since I came out here. 
The feelings which we have toward different sects alter 
out here quite insensibly, till one looks upon all godly 
men as good and true brethren. I rejoiced when I heard 
that so many good and great men in the Universities had 
turned their thoughts towards Africa, and feeling sure 
that He who had touched their hearts would lead them 
to promote His own glory, I welcomed the men they sent 
with a hearty unfeigned welcome." 

To his friend Mr. Maclear he wrote that he was very 
glad the Mission was to be under a bishop. He had seen 
so much idleness and folly result from missionaries being 
left to themselves, that it was a very great satisfaction 
to find that the new Mission was to be superintended 
by one authorised and qualified to take the charge. 
Afterwards when he came to know Bishop Mackenzie he 
wrote of him to Mr. Maclear in the highest terms : " The 
Bishop is A 1 , and in his readiness to put his hand to any- 
thing resembles much my good father-in-law Moffat." 

It is not often that missions are over-manned, but in 
the first stage of such an undertaking as this, so large a 
body of men was an incumbrance, none of them knowing 
a word of the language or a bit of the way. It was 
Bishop Mackenzie's desire that Dr. Livingstone should 

•mpany him at once to the scene of his future labours 
and help him to settle. But besides other reasons, 
the " Pioneer," as already stated, was under orders to 
explore the Rovuma, and, as the Portuguese put so many 
1 obstacles in the way on the Zambesi, to ascertain whether 
that river might not afford access to the Nyassa district. 
It was at last arranged that the Bishop should first 
go with the Doctor to the Rovuma, and thereafter they 
would go together to the Shire. In waiting for Bishop 



2 84 DA VID LI VING STONE. [chap, xi v. 

Mackenzie to accompany him, Dr. Livingstone lost the 
most 'favourable part of the season, and found that he 
could not get with the "Pioneer" to the top of the 
Rovuma. He might have left the ship and pushed for- 
ward on foot ; but, not to delay Bishop Mackenzie, he left 
the Rovuma in the meantime, intending, after making 
arrangements with the Bishop, to go to Nyassa, to find 
the point where the Rovuma left the lake, if there were 
such a point, or, if not, get into its head-waters and 
explore it downwards. 

Dr. Livingstone, as we have seen, welcomed the 
Mission right cordially, for indeed it was what he had 
been most eagerly praying for, and he believed that it 
would be the beginning of all blessing to Eastern and 
Central Africa, and help to assimilate the condition of the 
East Coast to that of the West. The field for the cultiva- 
tion of cotton which he had discovered along the Shire and 
Lake Nyassa was immense, above 400 miles in length, 
and now it seemed as if commerce and Christianity were 
going to take possession ol it. But it was found that 
the turning-point of prosperity had been reached, and it 
was his lot to encounter dark reverses. The navigation 
of the Shire was difficult, for the " Pioneer " being deep in 
the water would often run aground. On these occasions 
the Bishop, Mr. Scudamore, and Mr. Waller, the best and 
and bravest of the missionary party, were ever ready with 
their help in hauling. Livingstone was sometimes scan- 
dalised to see the Bishop toiling in the hot sun, while 
some of his subordinates were reading or writing in the 
cabin. As they proceeded up the Shire it was seen that 
the promises of assistance from the Portuguese Government 
were worse than fruitless. Evidently the Portuguese 
traders were pushing the slave-trade with greater eager- 
ness than ever. Slave -hunting chiefs were marauding 
the country, driving peaceful inhabitants before them, 
destroying their crops, seizing on all the people they 



1861-62.] UXIVERSITIES MISSIOX. 285 

could lay hands on, and selling them as slaves. The 
contrast to what Livingstone had seen on his last journey 
was lamentable. All their prospects were overcast. How 
could commerce or Christianity flourish in countries 
desolated by war ? 

Every reader of The Zambesi and its Tributaries 
remembers the frightful picture of the slave-sticks, and 
the row of men, women, and children whom Livingstone 
and his companions set free. Nothing helped more than 
this picture to rouse in English bosoms an intense horror 
of the trade, and a burning sympathy with Livingstone 
and his friends. Livingstone and the Bishop, with his 
party had gone up the Shire to Chibisas, and were 
halting at the village of Mbame, when a slave party came 
along. The flight of the drivers, the liberation of eighty- 
four men and women, and their reception by the good Bishop 
under his charge, speedily followed. The aggressors 
were the neighbouring warlike tribe of Ajawa, and their 
victims were the Manganja, the inhabitants of the Shire 
valley. The Bishop accepted the invitation of Chigunda, 
a Manganja chief, to settle at Magomero. It was 
thought, however, desirable for the Bishop and Living- 
stone first to visit the Ajawa chief, and try to turn him 
from his murderous ways. The road was frightful — 
through burning villages resounding with the wailings of 
women and the shouts of the warriors. The Ajawa 
received the offered visit in a hostile spirit, and the 
shout being raised that Chibisa had come — a powerful 
chief with the reputation of being a sorcerer — they fired 
on the Bishop's party and compelled them, in self-defence, 
to fire in return. It was the first time that Livingstone 
had ever been so attacked by natives, often though they 
had threatened him. It was the first time he had had to 
repel an attack with violence ; so little was he thinking 
of such a thinof that he had not his rifle with him, and 
was obliged to borrow a revolver. The encounter was hot 



286 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xiv. 

and serious, but it ended in the Ajawa being driven off 
without loss on the other side. 

It now became a question for the Bishop in what 
relation he and his party were to stand to these mur- 
derous and marauding Ajawa — whether they should 
quietly witness their onslaughts or drive them from the 
country and rescue the captive Manganja. Livingstone's 
advice to them- was to be patient, and to avoid taking 
part in the quarrels of the natives. He then left them at 
Magomero, and returned to his companions on the Shire. 
For a time the Bishop's party followed Livingstone's 
advice, but circumstances afterwards occurred which 
constrained them to take a different course, and led to 
very serious results in the history of the Mission. 

Writing to his son Robert, Livingstone thus describes 
the attack made by the Ajawa on him, the Bishop, and 
the missionaries : — 

"The slave-hunters had induced a number of another tribe to 
capture people for them. We came to this tribe while burning three 
villages, and though we told them that we came peaceably, and to talk 
with them, they saw that we were a small party, and might easily be 
overcome, rushed at us and shot their poisoned arrows. One fell 
between the Bishop and me, and another whizzed between another 
man and me. We had to drive them off, and they left that part of 
the country. Before going near them the Bishop engaged in prayer, 
and during the prayer we could hear the wail for the dead by some 
Manganja probably thought not worth killing, and the shouts of 
welcome home to these bloody murderers. It turned out that they 
were only some sixty or seventy robbers, and not the Ajawa tribe ; so 
we had a narrow escape from being murdered. 

" How are you doing % I fear from what I have observed of your 
temperament that you will have to strive against fickleness. Every 
one has his besetting fault — that is no disgrace to him, but it is a dis- 
grace if he do not find it out, and by God's grace overcome it. I am 
not near to advise you what- to do, but whatever line of life you 
choose, resolve to stick to it, and serve God therein to the last. 
Whatever failings you are conscious of, tell them to your heavenly 
Father; strive daily to master them and confess all to Him when con- 
scious of having gone astray. And may the good Lord of all impart all 
the strength you need. Commit your way unto the Lord ; trust also 
in Him. Acknowledge Him in all your ways, and He will bless you." 



1S61-62.] ROVUMA AND NYASSA. 287 

Leaving the "Pioneer" at Chibisa's, on 6th August 
18G1, Livingstone, accompanied by his brother and Dr. 
Kirk, started for Nyassa with a four-oared boat, which 
was carried by porters past the Murchison Cataracts. 
On 23d September they sailed into Lake Nyassa, naming 
the grand mountainous promontory at the end Cape 
Maclear, after Livingstone's great friend the Astronomer- 
Royal at the Cape. 

All about the lake was now examined with earnest 
eyes. The population was denser than he had seen any- 
where else. The people were civil, and even friendly, but 
undoubtedly they were not handsome. At the north of 
the lake they were lawless, and at one point the party 
were robbed in the night — the first time such a thing had 
occurred in Livingstone's African life. 1 Of elephants 
there was great abundance, — indeed of all animal and 
vegetable life. 

But the lake slave-trade was going on at a dismal rate. 

1 In The Zambesi and Us Tributaries, Livingstone gives a grave account of the 
robbery. In his letters to his friends he makes fun of it, as he did of the raid 
of the Boers. To Mr. F. Fitch he writes : "You think I cannot get into a scrape. 
. . . For the first time in Africa we were robbed. Expert thieves crept into our 
sleeping places, about four o'clock in the morning, and made off with what they 
could lay their hands on. Sheer over-modesty ruined me. It was Sunday, and 
such a black mass swarmed around our sail, which we used as a hut, that we could 
not hear prayers. I hud before slipped away a quarter of a mile to dress for 
church, but seeing a crowd of women watching me through the reeds, I did not 
change my old 'unmentionables,' — they were so old, I had serious thoughts of 
converting them into — charity ! Next morning early all our spare clothing was 
walked off with, and there I was left by my modesty nearly through at the knees, 
and no change of shirt, flannel, or stockings. After that, don't say that I can't 
get into a scrape ! " The same letter thanks Mr. Fitch for sending him Punch, 
whom he deemed a sound divine ! On the same subject he wrote at another time, 
regretting that Punch did not reach him, especially a number in which notice was 
taken of himself. " It never came. Who the miscreants are that steal them I 
cannot divine. I would not grudge them a reading if they would only send them 
on afterwards. Perhaps binding the whole year's Punches would be the best 
plan ; and then we need not label it 'Sermons in Lent,' or 'Tracts on Homoeo- 
pathy,' but you may write inside, as Dr. Buckland did on his umbrella, 'Stolen 
from Dr. Livingstone.' We really enjoy them very much. They are good against 
fever. The ' Essence of Parliament,' for instance, is capital. One has to wade 
through an ocean of paper to get the same information, without any of the fun. 
And by the time the newspapers have reached us, most of the interest in public 
matters has evaporated." 



288 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xiv. 

An Arab dhow was seen on the lake, but it kept well out 
of the v T ay. Dr. Livingstone was informed by Colonel 
Rigby, late British Consul at Zanzibar, that 19,000 slaves 
from this Nyassa region alone passed annually through 
the Custom- House there. This was besides those landed 
at Portuguese slave ports. In addition to those captured, 
thousands were killed or died of their wounds or of 
famine, or perished in other ways, so that not one-fifth of 
the victims became slaves — in the Nyassa district pro- 
bably not one-tenth. A small armed steamer on the 
lake might stop nearly the whole of this wholesale robbery 
and murder. 

Their stock of goods being exhausted, and no pro- 
visions being procurable, the party had to return, at the 
end of October. They had to abandon the project of 
getting from the lake to the Rovuma, and exploring 
eastwards. They reached the ship on 8th November 
1861, having suffered more from hunger than on any 
previous trip. 

In writing to his friend Young, 28th November 1861, 
Livingstone expresses his joy at the news of the depar- 
ture of the " Lady Nyassa ; " gives him an account of the 
lake, and of a terrific storm in which they were nearly 
lost ; describes the inhabitants, and the terrible slave- 
trade — the only trade that was carried on in the district. 
It will take them the best part of a year to put the ship 
on the lake, but it will be such a blessing ! He hopes 
the Government will pay for it, once it is there. 

The colonisation project had not commended itself to 
Sir R. Murchison. He had written of it sometime before : 
" Your colonisation scheme does not meet with supporters, 
it being thought that you must have much more hold on 
the country before you attract Scotch families to emigrate 
and settle there, and then die off, or become a burden to 
you and all concerned, like the settlers of old at Darien." 
It was with much satisfaction that Livingstone now 



1S61-62.] UNIVERSITIES MI SSI OX. 289 

wrote to his friend (25th November 18G1): "A Dr. Stewart 
is sent out by the Free Church of Scotland to confer 
with me about a Scotch colony. You will guess my 
answer. Dr. Kirk is with me in opinion, and if I could 
only get you out to take a trip up to the plateau of 
Zomba, and over the uplands which surround Lake 
Nyassa, you would give in too." 

When the party returned to the ship they had a 
visit from Bishop Mackenzie, who was in good spirits and 
had excellent hopes of the Mission. The Ajawa had been 
defeated, and had professed a desire to be at peace with 
the English. But Dr. Livingstone was not without mis- 
givings on this point. The details of the defeat of the 
Ajawa, in which the missionaries had taken an active part, 
troubled him, as we find from his private Journal. 
"The Bishop/' he says (14th November), "takes a totally 
different view of the affair from what I do." There were 
other points on which the utter inexperience of the mis- 
sionaries, and want of skill in dealing with the natives, 
gave him serious anxiety. It is impossible not to see 
that even thus early, the Mission, in Livingstone's eyes, 
had lost something of its bloom. 

It v.is arranged that the "Pioneer" should go down 
to the mouth of the Zambesi, to meet a man-of-war with 
provisions, and bring up the pieces of the new lake vessel, 
the "Lad >. which was eagerly expected, along 

with Mrs. Livingstone, Miss Mackenzie the Bishop's 
sister, and other members of the Mission party. An 
appointment was made for January at the mouth of the 
river lii 10. a tributary of the Shire", where the Bishop was 
to meet them. He and Mr. Burrup, who had just arrived, 
were meanwhile to explore the neighbouring country. 

The u Pioneer" was detained for five weeks on a shoal 
twenty miles below Chibisa's, and here the first death 
occurred — the carpenter's mate succumbed to fever. It 
was extremely irksome to suffer this long detention, to 

T 



290 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xiv. 

think of fuel and provisions wasting, and salaries running 
on, without one particle of progress. Livingstone was 
sensitive and anxious. He speaks in his Journal of the 
difficulty of feeling resigned to the Divine will in all 
things, and of believing that all things work together for 
good to those that love God. He seems to have been 
troubled at what had been said in some quarters of his 
treatment of members of the Expedition. In private 
letters, in the Cape papers, in the home papers, unfavour- 
able representations of his conduct had been made. In 
one case, a prosecution at law had been threatened. On 
New Year's Day 1862 he entered in his Journal an 
elaborate minute, as if for future use, bearing on the 
conduct of the Expedition. He refers to the difficulty 
to which civil expeditions are exposed, as compared with 
naval and military, in the matter of discipline, owing to 
the inferior authority and power of the chief. In the 
countries visited there is no enlightened public opinion 
to support the commander, and newspapers at home are 
but too ready to believe in his tyranny, and make them- 
selves the champions of any dawdling fellow who would 
fain be counted a victim of his despotism. He enumerates 
the chief troubles to which his Expedition had been ex- 
posed from such causes. Then he explains how, at the 
beginning, to prevent collision, he had made every man 
independent in his own department, wishing only, for 
himself, to. be the means of making known to the world 
what each man had done. His conclusion is a sad one, 
but it explains why in his last journeys he went alone : 
he is convinced that if he had been by himself he would 
have accomplished more, and undoubtedly he would have 
received more of the approbation of his countrymen. l 

At length the " Pioneer " was got off the bank, and on 

1 Notwithstanding this expression of feeling, Dr. Livingstone was very sincere 
in his handsome acknowledgments, in the Introduction to The Zambesi and its 
Tributaries, of valuable services, especially from the members of the Expedition 
there named. 



1861-62.] UNIVERSITIES MISSION. 291 

the 11th January 1862 thev entered the Zambesi. They 
proceeded to the great Luabo mouth, as being more 
advantageous than the Kongone for a supply of wood. 
Thev were a month behind their appointment, and no 
ship was to be seen. The ship had been there, it turned 
out, on the 8th January, had looked eagerly for the 
" Pioneer," had fancied it saw the black funnel and its 
smoke in the river, and being disappointed had made for 
Mozambique, been caught in a gale, and was unable to 
return for three weeks. Livingstone's letters show him a 
little out of sorts at the manifold obstructions that had 
always been making him " too late " — " too late for 
Rovuma below, too late for Kovuma above, and now too 
late for our own appointment," but in greater trouble 
because the " Lady Nyassa " had not been sent by sea, 
as he had strongly urged, and as it afterwards appeared 
might have been done quite well. To take out the 
pieces and lit them up would involve heavy expense and 
long delay, and perhaps the season would be lost again. 
But Livingstone had always a saving clause, in all his 
lamentations, and here it is : "I know that all was done 
for the best." 

At length, on the last day of January, H.M.S. 
" Gorgon," with a brig in tow, hove in sight. When the 
"Pioneer" was seen, up went the signal from the 
"Gorgon" — "I have steamboat in the brio; ; " to which 
Livingstone replied — •Welcome news." Then "Wife 
aboard " was signalled from the ship; — "Accept my 
best thanks" concluded what Livingstone called "the 
most interesting conversation he had engaged in for 
many ;i day." Next morning the "Pioneer" steamed 
out. and Dr. Livingstone found his wife "all right." In 
fche same ship with Mrs. Livingstone, besides Miss Mac- 
kenzie and Mrs. Burrup 3 the Rev. E. Hawkins and others 
of the Universities Mission, had come the Rev. James 
Stewart of the Free Church of Scotland (now Dr. Stewart 



2 9 2 DA VI D LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xiv. 

of Lovedale, South Africa), who had been sent out by a 
committee of that Church, "to meet with Dr. Livingstone, 
and obtain, by personal observation and otherwise, the 
information that might be necessary to enable a com- 
mittee at home to form a correct judgment as to the 
possibility of founding a mission in that part of Africa." 
It happened that some time before Mr. Stewart had 
been tutor to Thomas Livingstone, while studying in 
Glasgow ; this drew his sympathies to Livingstone and 
Africa, and was another link in that wonderful chain which 
Providence was making for the good of Africa. From Dr. 
Stewart's " Recollections of Dr. Livingstone and the Zam- 
besi" in the Sunday Magazine (November 1874), we get the 
picture from the other side. First, the sad disappointment 
of Mrs. Livingstone on the 8th January, when no "Pioneer" 
was to be found, with the anxious speculations raised 
in its absence as to the cause. Then a frightful tornado 
on the way to Mozambique, and the all but miraculous 
escape of the brig. Then the return to the Zambesi 
in company with H.M.S. "Gorgon," and on the 1st Feb- 
ruary, in a lovely morning, the little cloud of smoke rising 
close to land, and afterwards the white hull of a small 
paddle steamer making straight for the two ships outside. 

" As the vessel approached," says Dr. Stewart, " I could make out 
with a glass a firmly built man of about the middle height, standing 
on the port paddle-box, and directing the ship's course. He was not 
exactly dressed as a naval officer, but he wore that gold-laced cap which 
has since become so well known both at home and in Africa. This 
Was Dr. Livingstone, and I said to his wife, ' There he is at last.' She 
looked brighter at this announcement than I had seen her do any day 
for seven months before." 

Through the help of the men of the " Gorgon," the 
sections of the "Lady Nyassa" were speedily put on 
board the "Pioneer," and on the 10th February the 
vessel steamed off for the mouth of the Ruo, to meet the 
Bishop. But its progress through the river was miser- 
able. Says Dr. Stewart : — 



1861-62.] UNIVERSITIES MISSION. 293 

" For ton days we wore chiefly occupied in sailing or hauling the 
ship through sandbanks. The steamer was drawing between five and 
six feet of water, and though there were long reaches of the river with 
depth sufficient for a ship of larger draught, yet every now and then 
we found ourselves in shoal water of about three feet. No sooner was 
the boat got off one bank by might and main, and steady hauling on 
capstan and anchor laid out ahead, almost never astern, and we got a 
few miles of fair steering, than again we heard that sound, abhorred 
by all of us — a slight bump of the bow, and rush of sand along the 
ship's side, and we were again fast for a few hours, or a day or two, as 
the case might be." 

The " Pioneer " was overladen, and the plan had to 
be changed. It was resolved to put the " Lady Nyassa" 
together at Shupanga, and tow her up to the Rapids. 

" The detention," says Dr. Stewart, " was very trying to Dr. Living- 
stone, as it meant not a few weeks, but the loss of a year, inasmuch 
as by the time the ship was ready to be launched the river would be 
nearly at its lowest, and there would be no resource but to wait for 
the next rainy season. Yet, in the face of discouragement, he main- 
tained liis cheerfulness, and, after sunset, still enjoyed many an hour 
of prolonged talk about current events at home, about his old College 
days in Glasgow, and about many of those who were unknown men 
then, but have since made their mark in life in the different paths 
they have taken. Amongst others his old friend Mr. Young of Kelly, 
or Sir Paraffin, as he used subsequently to call him, came in for a large 
share of the conversation." 

Meanwhile Captain Wilson (of the " Gorgon"), accom- 
panied by Dr. Kirk and others, had gone on in boats with 
Mi-- Mackenzie and Mrs. Burrup, and learned the sad 
fate of the Bishop and Mr. Burrup. It appeared that the 
Bishop, accompanied by the Makololo, had gone forth on 
an expedition to rescue the captive husbands of some of 
the Manganja women, and had been successful. But as 
the Bishop was trying to get to the mouth of the Buo, 
lii- canoe was upset, his medicines and cordials were lost, 
nnd, being seized with fever, after languishing for some 
time, he died in distressing circumstances, on the 
31s1 January. Mr. Burrup, who was with him, and who 
was also stricken, was carried back to Magomero, and 
died in a few days. 



294 'DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xiv. 

Captain Wilson, who had himself been prostrated by 
fever, and made a narrow escape, returned with this sad 
news, three weeks after he had left Shupanga, bringing 
the two broken-hearted ladies, who had expected to be 
welcomed, the one by her brother, the other by her 
husband. It was a great blow to Livingstone. 

" It was difficult to say," writes Dr. Stewart, " whether he or the 
unhappy ladies, on whom the blow fell with the most personal weight, 
were most to be pitied. He felt the responsibility, and saw the wide- 
spread dismay which the news would occasion when it reached England, 
and at the very time when the Mission most needed support. ' This 
will hurt us all,' he said, as he sat resting his head on his hand, on the 
table of the dimly-lighted little cabin of the ' Pioneer.' His esteem for 
Bishop Mackenzie was afterwards expressed in this way: 'For un- 
selfish goodness of heart and earnest devotion to the work he had 
undertaken, it can safely be said that none of the commendations of 
his friends can exceed the reality.' He did what he could, I believe, 
to comfort those who were so unexpectedly bereaved ; but the night 
he spent must have been an uneasy one." 

Livingstone says in his book that the unfavourable 
judgment which he had formed of the Bishop's conduct 
in fighting with the Ajawa was somewhat modified by a 
natural instinct, when he saw how keenly the Bishop was 
run down for it in England, #nd reflected more on 
the circumstances, and thought how excellent a man he 
was. Sometimes he even said that, had he been there, 
he would probably have done what the Bishop did. 1 
Why, then, it may be asked, was Livingstone so ill- 
pleased when it was said that all that the Bishop had 
done was done by his advice ? No one will ask this 
question who reads the terms of a letter by Mr. Rowley, 
one of the Mission party, first published in the Cape 
papers, and copied into the Times in November 1862. 

1 Writing to Mr. Waller, 12tli February 1863, Dr. Livingstone said: "I 
thought you wrong in attacking the Ajawa, till I looked on it as defence of your 
orphans. I thought that you had shut yourselves up to one tribe, and that, the 
Manganja ; but I think differently now, and only wish they would send out Dr. 
Pusey here. He would learn a little sense, of which I suppose I have need 
myself." 



1861-62.] UNIVERSITIES MISSION, 295 

It was said there that "from the moment when Living- 
stone commenced the release of slaves, his course was one 
of aggression. He hunted for slaving parties in every 
direction, and when he heard of the Ajawa making slaves 
in order to sell to the slavers, he went designedly in 
search of them, and intended to take their captives from 
them by force if needful. It is true that when he came 
upon them he found them to be a more powerful body 
than he expected, and had they not fired first, he. might 
have withdrawn. . . . His parting words to the chiefs 
just before he left . . . were to this eifect : ' You have 
hitherto seen us only as fighting men, but it is not in 
such a character we wish you to know us.' " l How could 
Livingstone be otherwise than indignant to be spoken of 
as if the use of force had been his habit, while the whole 
tenor of his life had gone most wonderfully to show the 
efficacy of gentle and brotherly treatment ? How could 
he but be vexed at having the odium of the whole pro- 
ceedings thrown on him, when his last advice to the 
missionaries had been disregarded by them? Or how 
could lie fail to be concerned at the discredit which the 
course ascribed to him must bring upon the Expedition 
under his command, which was entirely separate from the 
Mission '. It was the unhandsome treatment of himself 
and reckless perilling of the character and interests of his 
Expedition in order to shield others, that raised his indig- 
nation. " Good Bishop Mackenzie," he wrote to his friend 
Mr. Fitch, " would never have tried to screen himself by 
accusing me." In point of fact, a few years afterwards 
the Portuguese Government, through Mr. Lacerda, when 
complaining bitterly of the statements of Livingstone in a 
speech at Bath, in 18 Go, referred to Mr. Rowley's letter as 
bearing out their complaint. It served admirably to give an 

1 Mr. Rowley afterwards (February 22, 18G5) expressed his regret that this 
letter wae ever written, as it had produced an ill effect. See The Zambesi and 
its Tributaries, \>. 4~~> note. 



2 9 6 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xiv. 

unfavourable view of his aims and methods, as from one 
of his own allies. Dr. Livingstone never allowed himself 
to cherish any other feeling but that of high regard for 
the self-denial and Christian heroism of the Bishop, and 
many of his coadjutors ; but he did feel that most of them 
were ill-adapted for their work and had a great deal to 
learn, and that the manner in which he had been turned 
aside from the direct objects of his own enterprise by 
having to look after so many inexperienced men, and 
then blamed for what he deprecated, and what was done 
in his absence, was rather more than it was reasonable 
for him to bear. 1 

Writing of the terrible loss of Mackenzie and Burrup 
to the Bishop of Cape Town, Livingstone says : " The blow 
is quite bewildering ; the two strongest men so quickly 
cut down, and one of them, humanly speaking, indis- 
pensable to the success of the enterprise. We must bow 
to the will of Him who doeth all things well ; but I cannot 
help feeling sadly disturbed in view of the effect the news 
may have at home. / shall not swerve a hairbreadth \ 
from my work while life is spared, and I trust the sup- 
porters of the Mission may not shrink back from all that 
they have set their hearts to." 

The next few weeks were employed in taking Miss 
Mackenzie and Mrs. Burrup to the " Gorgon " on their way 
home. It was a painful voyage to all — to Dr. and Mrs. 

1 It must not be supposed that the letter of Mr. Rowley expressed the mind of 
his brethren. Some of them were greatly annoyed at it, and used their influence 
to induce its author to write to the Cape papers that he had conveyed a wrong 
impression. In writing to Sir Thomas Maclear (20th November 1862), after 
seeing Rowley's letter in the Cape papers, Dr. Livingstone said : " It is untrue 
that I ever on any one occasion adopted an aggressive policy against the Ajawa, or 
took slaves from them. Slaves were taken from Portuguese alone. I never 
hunted the Ajawa, or took the part of Manganja against Ajawa. In this I believe 
every member of the Mission will support my assertion." Livingstone declined 
to write a contradiction to the public prints, because he knew the harm that would 
be done by a charge against a clergyman. In this he showed the same magna- 
nimity and high Christian self-denial which he had shown when he left Mabotsa. 
It was only when the Portuguese claimed the benefit of Rowley's testimony that 
he let the public see what its value was. 



1S61-62.] UNIVERSITIES MISSION. 297 

Livingstone, to Miss Mackenzie and Mrs. Burrup, and 
last, not least, to Captain Wilson, who had been separ- 
ated bo long from his ship, and had risked life, position, 
and everything, to do service to a cause which in spite of 
all he left at a much lower ebb. 

When the ''Pioneer'' arrived at the bar, it was found 
that owing to the weather the ship had been forced to 
leave {he coast, and she did not return for a fortnight. 
There was thus another lono- waiting" from 17th March to 
2d April. Dr. and Mrs. Livingstone then returned to 
Shupanga. The long detention in the most unhealthy 
season of the year, and when fever was at its height, was 
a sad, sad calamity. 

We are now arrived at the last illness and the death 
of Mrs. Livingstone. After she had parted from her 
husband at the Cape in the spring of 1858, she returned 
with her parents to Kuruman, and in November gave 
birth there to her youngest child, Anna Mary. There- 
after she returned to Scotland to be near her other 
children. Some of them were at school. No comfortable 
home for them all could be formed, and though many 
friends were kind, the time was not a happy one. Mrs. 
Livingstone's desire to be with her husband was intense ; 
not only the longings of an affectionate heart, and the 
necessity of taking counsel w T ith him about the family, 
but the feeling that when overshadowed by one whose 
faith was so strong her fluttering heart would regain its 
ly tone, and she would be better able to help both 
him and the children, gave vehemence to this desire. Her 
letters to her husband tell of much spiritual darkness ; 
his replies were the very soul of tenderness and ( Jhristian 
earnestness. Providence seemed to favour her wish ; the 
vessel in which she sailed was preserved from imminent 
destruction, and she had the great happiness of finding 
her husband alive and well. 

On the 21st of April Mrs. Livingstone became ill. 



2 9 3 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xiv. 

On the 25th the symptoms were alarming — vomitings 
every quarter of an hour, which prevented any medicine 
from remaining on her stomach. On the 26th she was 
worse and delirious. On the evening of Sunday the 27th 
Dr. Stewart got a message from her husband that the 
end was drawing near. " He was sitting by the side of 
a rude bed formed of boxes, but covered with a soft 
mattress, on which lay his dying wife. All consciousness 
had now departed, as she was in a state of deep coma, 
from which all efforts to rouse her had been unavailing. 
The strongest medical remedies and her husband's voice 
were both alike powerless to reach the spirit which was 
still there, but was now so rapidly sinking into the 
depths of slumber, and darkness, and death. The fixed- 
ness of feature and the oppressed and heavy breathing 
only made it too plain that the end was near. And the 
man who had faced so many deaths, and braved so many 
dangers, was now utterly broken down and weeping like 
a child." 

Dr. Livingstone asked Dr. Stewart to commend her 
spirit to God, and along with Dr. Kirk, they kneeled in 
prayer beside her. In less than an hour, her spirit had 
returned to God. Half-an-hour after, Dr. Stewart was 
struck with her likeness to her father, Dr. Moffat. He 
was afraid to utter what struck him so much, but at last 
he said to Livingstone, — " Do you notice any change V 
" Yes,' 5 he replied, without raising his eyes from her face, 
— "the very features and expression of her father. " 

Every one is struck with the calmness of Dr. Living- 
stone's notice of his wife's death in The Zambesi and its 
Tributaries. Its matter-of-fact tone only shows that he 
regarded that book as a sort of official report to the nation, 
in which it would not be becoming for him to introduce 
personal feelings. A few extracts from his Journal and 
letters will show better the state of his heart. 

"It is the first heavy stroke I have suffered, and 



1S61-62.] UNIVERSITIES MISSION. 299 

quite takes away my strength. I wept over her who 
well deserved many tears. I loved her when I married 
her, and the longer I lived with her I loved her the 
more. God pity the poor children, who were all tenderly 
attached to her, and I am left alone in the world by one 
whom I felt to be a part of myself. I hope it may, by 
divine grace, lead me to realise heaven as my home, and 
that she has but preceded me in the journey. Oh my 
Mary, my Mary! how often we have longed for a quiet 
home, since you and I were cast adrift at Kolobeng ; 
surely the removal by a kind Father who knoweth our 
frame means that He rewarded you by taking you to the 
home, the eternal one in the heavens. The prayer 
was found in her papers — ' Accept me, Lord, as I am, and 
make me such as Thou wouldst have me to be.' He who 
taught her to value this prayer would not leave His own 
work unfinished. On a letter she had written, ' Let 
others plead for pensions, I wrote to a friend I can be 
rich without money ; I would give my services in the 
world from uninterested motives ; I have motives for my 
own conduct I would not exchange for a hundred pensions.' 

" She rests by the large baobab-tree at Shupanga, 
which is sixty feet in circumference, and is mentioned in the 
work of Commodore Owen. The men asked to be allowed 
in mount guard till we had got the grave built up, and 
we had it built with bricks dug from an old house. 

•' Prom her boxes we find evidence that she intended 
to make us all comfortable at Nyassa, though she seemed 
to have a presentiment of an early death, — she purposed 
to do more for me than ever. 

" l\th May, Kongone. — My dear, dear Mary has been 
this evening a fortnight in heaven — absent from the 
body, present with the Lord. To-day shalt thou be 
with Me in Paradise. Angels carried her to Abraham's 
bosom — to be with CI iris t is far better. Enoch, the 
seventh from Adam, prophesied, 'Behold, the Lord cometh 



300 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xiv. 

with ten thousand of His saints ; ? ye also shall appear 
with Him in glory. He comes with them ; then they 
are now with Him. I go to prepare a place for you ; 
that where I am there ye may be also, to behold His 
glory. Moses and Elias talked of the decease He should 
accomplish at Jerusalem ; then they know what is going 
on here on certain occasions. They had bodily organs 
to hear and speak. For the first time in my life I feel 
willing to die. — D. L." 

"May 19, 1862. — -Vividly do I remember my first 
passage down in 1856, passing Shupanga house without 
landing, and looking at its red hills and white vales with 
the impression that it was a beautiful spot. No sus- 
picion glanced across my mind that there my loving wife 
would be called to give up the ghost six years afterwards. 
In some other spot I may have looked at, my own resting- 
place may be allotted. I have often wished that it 
might be in some far-off still deep forest, where I may 
sleep sweetly till the resurrection morn, when the trump 
of God will make all start up into the glorious and active 
second existence. 

" 25th May. — Some of the histories of pious people in 
the last century and previously, tell of clouds of religious 
gloom, or of paroxysms of opposition and fierce rebellion 
against God, which found vent in terrible expressions. 
These were followed by great elevations of faith, and 
reactions of confiding love, the results of divine influence 
which carried the soul far above the region of the intellect 
into that of direct spiritual intuition. This seems to 
have been the experience of my dear Mary, She had a 
strong presentiment of death being near. She said that 
she would never have a house in this country. Taking 
it to be despondency alone, I only joked, and now my 
heart smites me that I did not talk seriously on that and 
many things besides. 

" 31 st May 1862. — The loss of my ever dear Mary lies 



1 86i-62.] UNIVERSITIES MISSION. 301 

like a heavy weight on my heart. In our intercourse in 
private there was more than what would be thought by 
some a decorous amount of merriment and play. I. said 
to her a few days before her fatal illness : ' We old bodies 
ought dow to be more sober, and not play so much/ ' Oh 
no,' said she, ' you must always be as playful as you have 
always been, I would not like you to be as grave as some 
folks I have seen/ This, when I know her prayer was 
that she might be spared to be a help and comfort to me 
in my great work, led me to feel what I have always 
believed to be the true way, to let the head grow wise, 
but keep the heart always young and playful. She was 
ready and anxious to work, but has been called away to 
serve God in a higher sphere." 

Livingstone could not be idle, even when his heart 
was broken; he occupied the days after the death in 
writing to her father and mother, to his children, and to 
many of the friends who would be interested in the sad 
news. Among these letters, that to Mrs. Moifat and her 
reply from Kuruman have a special interest. His letters 
went round by Europe, and the first news reached Kuru- 
man by traders and newspapers. For a full month after 
her daughter's death, Mrs. Moffat was giving thanks for 
the mercy that had spared her to meet with her husband, 
and had made her lot so different from that of Miss Mac- 
kenzie and Mrs. Burrup. In a letter, dated 26th May, 
slit- writes to Mary a graphic account of the electrical 
thrill that passed through her when she saw Davids 
handwriting — of the beating heart with which she tried 
to get the essence of his letter before she read the lines — 
of the overwhelming joy and gratitude with which she 
learned that they had met — and then the horror of great 
darkness that came over her when she read of the tragic 
death of the Bishop, to whom she had learned to feel as 
friend and brother. Then she pours out her tears 
aver the " pour dear ladies, Miss Mackenzie and Mrs. 



302 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xiv. 

Burrup," and remembers the similar fate of the Helmores, 
who, like the Bishop and his friends, had had it in their 
hearts to build a temple to the Lord in Africa, but had 
not been permitted. Then comes some family news, 
especially about her son Bobert, whose sudden death 
occurred a few days after, and was another bitter drop 
in the family cup. And then some motherly forecastings 
of her daughter's future, kindly counsel where she could 
offer any, and affectionate prayers for the guidance of 
God where the future was too dark for her to penetrate. 

For a whole month before this letter was written, 
poor Mary had been sleeping under the baobab-tree at 
Shupanga ! 

In Livingstone's letter to Mrs. Moffat he gives the 
details of her illness, and pours his heart out in the same 
affectionate terms as in his Journal. He dwells on the 
many unhappy causes of delay which had detained them 
near the mouth of the river, contrary to all his wishes 
and arrangements. He is concerned that her deafness 
(through quinine) and comatose condition before her 
death prevented her from giving him the indications he 
would have desired respecting her state of mind in the 
view of eternity. 

" I look," he says, " to her previous experience and 
life for comfort, and thank God for His mercy that we 
have it. ... A good wife and mother was she. God 
have pity on the children — she was so much beloved by 
them. . . . She was much respected by all the officers of 
the * Gorgon,' — they would do anything for her. When 
they met this vessel at Mozambique, Captain Wilson 
offered his cabin in that fine large vessel, but she in- 
sisted rather that Miss Mackenzie and Mrs. Burrup should 
go. ... I enjoyed her society during the three months 
we were together. It was the Lord who gave, and He has 
taken away. I wish to say — Blessed be His name. I 
regret, as there always are regrets after our loved ones 



1S61-62.] UNIVERSITIES MISS/OX. 303 

are gone, that the slander which, unfortunately, reached 
her ears from missionary gossips and others had an in- 
fluence on me in allowing her to come, before we were 
fairly on Lake Nyassa, A doctor of divinity said, when 
her devotion to her family was praised : ' Oh, she is no 
good, she is here because her husband cannot live with 
her.' The last day will tell another tale." 

To his daughter Agnes he writes, after the account of 
her death : ". . . Dear Nannie, she often thought of you, 
and when once, from the violence of the disease, she was 
delirious, she called out, ' See ! Agnes is falling down a 
precipice/ May our Heavenly Saviour, who must be 
your Father and Guide, preserve you from falling into 
the gulf of sin over the precipice of temptation. . . . 
1 tear Agnes, I feel alone in the world now, and what will 
the poor dear baby do without her mamma ? She often 
spoke of her, and sometimes burst into a flood of tears, 
just as I now do in taking up and arranging the things 
left by my beloved partner of eighteen years. ... I bow 
to the Divine hand that chastens me. God grant that 
I may learn the lesson He means to teach! All she 
told you to do she now enforces, as if beckoning from 
heaven. Nannie, dear, meet her there. Don't lose the 
crown of joy she now wears, and the Lord be gracious to 
you in all things. You will now need to act more and 
more from a feeling of responsibility to Jesus, seeing He 
has taken away one of your guardians. A right straight- 
forward woman was she. No crooked way ever hers, and 
she could act with decision and energy when required. 
I pity you on receiving tins, but it is the Lord. — Your 
Borrowing and lonely father." 

Letters of the like tenor were written to every in- 
timate friend 11 was a relief to his heart to pour itself 
out in praise of her who was gone, and in some cases, 
when he had told all about the death, he returns to 
speak of her life, A letter to Sir Roderick; Murchison 



3 o 4 DA VID LIVINGSTONE, l chap. xiv. 

gives all the particulars of the illness and its termination. 
Then he thinks of the good and gentle Lady Murchison — 
" la spirit uelle Lady Murchison/' as Humboldt called her, 
— and writes to her : "It will somewhat ease my aching 
heart to tell you about my dear departed Mary Moffat, 
the faithful companion of eighteen years." He tells of 
her birth at Griqua Town in 1821, her education in 
England, their marriage and their love. " At Kolobeng, 
she managed all the household affairs by native servants 
of her own training, made bread, butter, and all the 
clothes of the family ; taught her children most carefully ; 
kept also an infant and sewing school — by far the most 
popular and best attended we had. It was a fine sight 
to see her day by day walking a quarter of a mile to the 
town, no matter how broiling hot the sun, to impart 
instruction to the heathen Bakwains. Ma-Robert's name 
is known through all that country, and 1800 miles beyond. 
... A brave, good woman was she. All my hopes of 
giving her one day a quiet home, for which we both had 
many a sore longing, are now dashed to the ground. 
She is, I trust, through divine mercy, in peace in the 
home of the blest. . . . She spoke feelingly of your kind- 
ness to her, and also of the kind reception she received 
from Miss Burdett Coutts. Please give that lady and 
Mrs. Brown the sad intelligence of her death." 

The reply of Mrs. Moffat to her son-in-law's letter 
was touching and beautiful. " I do thank you for the 
detail you have given us of the circumstances of the last 
days and hours of our lamented and beloved Mary, our 
first-born, over whom our fond hearts first beat with 
parental affection ! " She recounts the mercies that were 
mingled with the trial — though Mary could not be called 
eminently pious, she had the root of the matter in her, 
and though the voyage of her life had been a trying and 
stormy one, she had not become a wreck. God had 
remembered her ; had given her during her last year the 



i86i-62.] UNIVERSITIES MISSION. 305 

counsels of faithful men — referring to her kind friend and 
valued counsellor, the Key. Professor Kirk of Edinburgh, 
and the Rev. Dr. Stewart of Lovedale — and, at last, the 
great privilege of dying in the arms of her husband. 
"As for the cruel scandal that seems to have hurt 
you both so much, those who said it did not know 
you as a couple. In all our intercourse with you, we 
never had a doubt as to your being comfortable to- 
gether. I know there are some maudlin ladies who 
insinuate, when a man leaves his family frequently, no 
matter how noble is his object, that he is not comfortable 
at home. But we can afford to smile at tins, and say, 
' The Day will declare it/ . . . 

" Now, my dear Livingstone, I must conclude by 
assuring you of the tender interest we shall ever feel in 
your operations. It is not only as the husband of our 
departed Mary and the father of her children, but as one 
who has laid himself out for the emancipation of this 
poor wretched continent, and for opening new doors of 
entrance for the heralds of salvation (not that I would 
not have preferred your remaining in your former capacity). 
I nevertheless rejoice in what you are allowed to accom- 
plish. We look anxiously for more news of you, and my 
heart bounded when I saw your letters the other day, 
ti jinking they were new. May our gracious God and 
Father comfort your sorrowful heart. — Believe me ever 
your affectionate mother, Maey Moffat. 5 ' 



3 o6 DA VJD LIVINGSTONE, [chap. xv. 



CHAPTER XV. 

LAST TWO YEARS OF THE EXPEDITION. 
A.D. 1862-1863. 

Livingstone again buckles on his armour — Letter to Waller — Launch of " Lady 
Nyassa " — Too late for season — He explores the Rovuma — Fresh activity of 
the slave-trade — Letter to Governor of Mozambique about his discoveries — 
Letter to Sir Thomas Maclear — Generous offer of a party of Scotchmen — The 
Expedition proceeds up Zambesi with "Lady Nyassa" in tow — Appalling 
desolations of Marianno — Tidings of the Mission — Death of Scudamore — of 
Dickenson — of Thornton — Illness of Livingstone — Dr. Kirk and Charles 
Livingstone go home — He proceeds northwards with Mr. Rae and Mr. E. D. 
Young of the "Gorgon" — Attempt to carry a boat over the rapids — Defeated 
— Recall of the Expedition — Livingstone's views — Letter to Mr. James Young 
— to Mr. Waller — Feeling of the Portuguese Government — Offer to the 
Rev. Dr. Stewart — Great discouragements — Why did he not go home? — 
Proceeds to explore Nyassa — Risks and sufferings — Occupation of his mind — 
Natural History — Obliged to turn back — More desolation — Report of his 
murder — Kindness of Chinsamba — Reaches the ship — Letter from Bishop 
Tozer, abandoning the Mission — Distress of Livingstone — Letter to Sir Thomas 
Maclear — Progress of Dr. Stewart — Livingstonia — Livingstone takes charge 
of the children of the Universities Mission — Letter to his daughter — Retro- 
spect — The work of the Expedition — Livingstone's plans for the future. 

It could not have been easy for Livingstone to buckle on 
his armour anew. How he was able to do it at all may 
be inferred from some words of cheer written by him at 
the time to his friend Mr. Waller : — " Thanks for your 
kind sympathy. In return, I say, Cherish exalted thoughts 
of the great work you have undertaken. It is a work 
which, if faithful, you will look back on with satisfaction 
while the eternal ages roll on their everlasting course. 
The devil will do all he can to hinder you by efforts from 
without and from within ; but remember Him who is 
with you, and will be with you alway." 



1S62-63.] LAST TWO YEARS OF THE EXPEDITION. 307 

As soon as he was able to brace himself, he was again 

at his post, helping to put the " Lady Nyassa " together 

and launch her. This was achieved by the end of June, 

greatly to the wonder of the natives, who could not 

understand how iron should swim. The " Nyassa " was an 

excellent steamboat, and could she have been got to the 

lake would have done well. But, alas ! the rainy season 

had passed, and until December this could not be done. 

Here was another great disappointment. Meanwhile, 

Dr. Livingstone resolved to renew the exploration of the 

Rovuma, in the hope of finding a way to Nyassa beyond 

the dominion of the Portuguese. This was the work in 

which he had been engaged at the time when he went 
© © 

with Bishop Mackenzie to help him to settle. 

The voyage up the Rovuma did not lead to much. 
On one occasion they were attacked, fiercely and treacher- 
ously, by the natives. Cataracts occurred about 156 
miles from the mouth, and the report was that farther up 
they were worse. The explorers did not venture beyond 
the banks of the river, but so far as they saw, the people 
were industrious, and the country fertile, and a steamer 
of light draught might carry on a very profitable trade 
among them. But there was no water-way to Nyassa. 
The Rovuma came from mountains to the west, having 
only a very minute connection with Nyassa. It seemed 
that it would be better in the meantime to reach the 
lake by the Zambesi and the Shire, so the party returned. 
It was not till the beginning of 18G3 that they were 
able to renew the ascent of these rivers. Livingstone 
writes touchingly to Sir Roderick, in reference to his 
returning to the Zambesi, " It may seem to some persons 
weak to feel a chord vibrating to the dust of her who 
rests on the banks of the Zambesi, and think that the 
path by that river is consecrated by her remains." 

Meanwhile Dr. Livingstone was busy with his pen. 
A new energy had been imparted to him by the appalling 



3 o8 DAVID LIVINGSTONE, [chap. xv. 

facts, now fully apparent, that his discoveries had only 
stimulated the activity of the slave-traders, that the Portu- 
guese local authorities really promoted slave-trading, with 
its inevitable concomitant slave-hunting, and that the 
horror and desolation to which the country bore such 
frightful testimony was the result. It seemed as if the duel 
he had fought with the Boers when they determined to 
close Africa, and he determined to open it, had now to 
be repeated with the Portuguese. The attention of Dr. 
Livingstone is more and more concentrated on this 
terrible topic. Dr. Kirk writes to him that when at 
Tette he had heard that the Portuguese Governor-General 
at Mozambique had instructed his brother, the Governor 
of that town, to act on the principle that the slave-trade, 
though prohibited on the ocean, was still lawful on the 
land, and that any persons interfering with slave-traders, 
by liberating their slaves, would be counted robbers. 
An energetic despatch to Earl Russell, then Foreign 
Secretary, calls attention to this outrage. 

A few days after, a strong but polite letter is sent to 
the Governor of Tette, calling attention to the forays of a 
man named Belshore, in the Chibisa country, and entreat- 
ing him to stop them. About the same time he writes to 
the Governor-General of Mozambique in reply to a paper 
by the Viscount de Sa da Bandeira, published in the 
Almanac by the Government press, in which the common 
charge was made against him of arrogating to himself the 
glory of discoveries which belonged to Senhor Candido 
and other Portuguese. He affirms that before publishing 
his book he examined all Portuguese books of travels he 
could find ; that he had actually shown Senhor Candido 
to have been a discoverer before any Portuguese hinted 
that he was such ; that the lake which Candido spoke of as 
north-west of Tette could not be Nyassa, which was north- 
east of it ; that he did full justice to all the Portuguese 
explorers, and that what he claimed as his own discoveries 



1862-63.] LAST TWO YEARS OF THE EXPEDLTLON. 309 

were certainly not the discoveries of the Portuguese. A 
few days after he writes to Mr. Layard, then our Portu- 
guese Minister, and comments on the map published by 
the Viscount as representing Portuguese geography, — 
pointing out such blunders as that which made the 
Zambesi enter the sea at Quilimane, proving that by 
their map the Portuguese claimed territory that was 
certainly not theirs ; adverting to their utter ignorance 
of the Victoria Falls, the most remarkable phenomenon 
in Africa ; affirming that many so-called discoveries were 
mere vague rumours, heard by travellers ; and showing 
the use that had been made of his own maps, the names 
being changed to suit the Portuguese orthography. 

Livingstone had the satisfaction of knowing that his 
account of the trip to Lake Nyassa had excited much 
interest in the Cabinet at home, and that a strong 
remonstrance had been addressed to the Portuguese 
Government against slave-hunting. But it does not 
appear that this led to any improvement at the time. 

While stung into more than ordinary energy by the 
atrocious deeds he witnessed around him, Livingstone was 
living near the borders of the unseen world. He writes 
to Sir Thomas Maclear on the 27th October 18G2 : — 

" I suppose that I shall die in these uplands, and somebody will 
carry out the plan I have longed to put into practice. I have been 
thinking a great deal since the departure of my beloved one about the 
regions whither she has gone, and imagine from the manner the Bible 
describes it we have got too much monkery in our ideas. There will 
be work there as well as here, and possibly not such a vast difference 
in our being as is expected. But a short time there will give more 
insight than a thousand musings. We. shall see Him by -whose inex- 
pressible love and mercy we get there, and all whom we loved, and all 
the loveable. I can sympathise with you now more fully than I did 
before. I work with as much vigour as I can, and mean to do so till 
the change comes j but the prospect of a home is all dispelled." 

In one of his despatches to Lord Russell, Livingstone 
reports on offer that had been made by a party consisting 

of an Englishman and five Scotch working men at the 



310 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xv. 

Cape, which must have been extremely gratifying to him, 
and served to deepen his conviction that sooner or later 
his plan of colonisation would certainly be carried into 
effect. The leader of the party, John Jehan, formerly of 
the London City Mission, in reading Dr. Livingstone's 
book, became convinced that if a few mechanics could be 
induced to take a journey of exploration it would prove 
very useful. His views being communicated to five other 
young men (two masons, two carpenters, one smith), they 
formed themselves into a company in July 1861, and had 
been working together, throwing their earnings into a 
common fund, and now they had .arms, two wagons, two 
spans of oxen, and means of procuring outfits. In Sep- 
tember 1862 they were ready to start from Aliwal in 
South Africa. 1 

After going to Johanna for provisions, and to 
discharge the crew of Johanna men whose term of 
service had expired, the Expedition returned to Tette. 
On the 10th January 1863 they steamed off with the 
"Lady Nyassa" in tow. The desolation that had been 
caused by Marianno, the Portuguese slave-agent, was 
heart-breaking. Corpses floated past them. In the 
morning the paddles had to be cleared of corpses caught 
by the floats during the night. Livingstone summed 
up his impressions in one terrible sentence : — 

" Wherever we took a walk, human skeletons were seen 
in every direction, and it was painfully interestiDg to 
observe the different postures in which the poor wretches 
had breathed their last. A whole heap had been thrown 
down a slope behind a village, where the fugitives often 
crossed the river from the east ; and in one hut of the 

1 The recall of Livingstone's Expedition and the removal of the Universities 
Mission seem to have knocked this most promising scheme on the head. Writing 
of it to Sir Roderick Murchison on the 14th December 1862, he says : " I like the 
Scotchmen, and think them much better adapted for our plans than those on whom 
the Universities Mission has lighted. If employed as I shall wish them to be in 
trade, and setting an example of industry in cotton or coffee planting, I think they 
are just the men I need brought to my hand. Don't you think this sensible ? " 



1862-63.] LAST TWO YEARS OF THE EXPEDITION. 311 

same village no fewer than twenty drums had been 
collected, probably the ferryman's fees. Many had ended 
their misery under shady trees, others under projecting 
crags in the hills, while others lay in their huts with 
closed doors, which when opened disclosed the mouldering 
corpse with the poor rags round the loins, the skull 
fallen oft' the pillow, the little skeleton of the child, that 
had perished first, rolled up in a mat between two large 
skeletons. The sight of this desert, but eighteen months 
ago a well -peopled valley, now literally strewn with 
human bones, forced the conviction upon us that the 
destruction of human life in the middle passage, however 
great, constitutes but a small portion of the waste, and 
made us feel that unless the slave-trade — that monster 
iniquity which has so long brooded over Africa — is put 
down, lawful commerce cannot be established. " 

In passing up, Livingstone's heart was saddened as he 
visited the Bishop's grave, and still more by the tidings 
which he got of the Mission, which had now removed 
from Magomero to the low lands of Chibisa. Some time 
before, Mr. Scudamore, a man greatly beloved, had suc- 
cumbed, and now Mr. Dickenson was added to the 
number of victims. Mr. Thornton, too, who left the Expe- 
dition in 1859, but returned to it, died under an attack 
of fever, consequent on too violent exertion undertaken 
in order to be of service to the Mission party. Dr. Kirk 
and Mr. C. Livingstone were so much reduced by illness 
that it was deemed necessary for them to return to 
England. Livingstone himself had a most serious attack 
of fever, which lasted all the month of May, Dr. Kirk 
remaining with him till he got over it. When his 
brother and Dr. Kiik left, the only Europeans remaining 
with him were Mr. Rae, the ship's engineer, and Mr. 
Edward D. Young, formerly of the " Gorgon/' who had 
volunteered to join the Expedition, and whose after 
services, both in the search for Livingstone and in estab- 



3 i2 DA VID LI V IN G STONE. [chap. xv. 

lishing the mission of Livingstonia, were so valuable. On 
the noble spirit shown by Livingstone in remaining in the 
country after all his early companions had left, and amid 
such appalling scenes as everywhere met him, we do not 
need to dwell. 

Here are glimpses of the inner heart of Livingstone 
about this time : — 

" 1st March 1863. — I feel very often that I have not long to live, 
and say, ' My dear children, I leave you. Be manly Christians, and 
never do a mean thing. Be honest to men, and to the Almighty 
One.' " 

" 1 Oth April. — Beached the Cataracts. Very thankfnl indeed after 
our three months' toil from Shupanga." 

"27th April. — On this day twelvemonths my beloved Mary Moffat 
was removed from me by death. 

' If I can, I'll come again, mother, from out my resting-place ; 
Though you'll not see me, mother, I shall look upon your face ; 
Though I cannot speak a word, I shall hearken what you say, 
And be often, often with you when you think I'm far away.' 

Tennyson." 

The " Lady Nyassa " being taken to pieces, the party 
began to construct a road over the thirty-five or forty 
miles of the rapids, in order to convey the steamer to the 
lake. After a few miles of the road had been completed, 
it was thought desirable to ascertain whether the boat 
left near the lake two years before was fit for service, so 
as to avoid the necessity of carrying another boat past the 
rapids. On reaching it the boat was found to have been 
burnt. The party therefore returned to carry up another. 
They had got to the very last rapid, and had placed the 
boat for a short space in the water, when, through the 
carelessness of five Zambesi men, she was overturned, and 
away she went like an arrow down the rapids. To keep 
calm under such a crowning disappointment must have 
taxed Livingstone's self-control to the very utmost. 

It was now that he received a despatch from Earl 
Russell intimating that the Expedition was recalled. 
This, though a great disappointment, was not altogether a 



1862-63.] LAST TWO YEARS OF THE EXPEDITION. 313 

surprise. On the 24 th April he had written to Mr. 
Waller, " I should not wonder in the least to be recalled, 
for should the Portuguese persist in keeping the rivers 
shut, there would be no use in trying to develop trade." 
He states his views on the recall calmly in a letter to 
Mr. James Young: : — 

" Murchison Cataraeis, 3d July 18G3. — . . . Got instructions for 
our recall yesterday, at which I do not wonder. The Government has 
behaved "well to us throughout, and I feel abundantly thankful to 
ELM.'s ministers for enabling me so far to carry on the experiment 
of turning the industrial and trading propensities of the natives to 
account, with a view of thereby eradicating the trade in slaves. 
But the Portuguese dogged our footsteps, and, as is generally under- 
stood, with the approbation of their Home Government, neutralised 
our labours. Not that the Portuguese statesmen approved of slaving, 
but being enormously jealous lest their pretended dominion from sea 
to sea and elsewhere should in the least degree, now or at any future 
time, become aught else than a slave * preserve,' the Governors have been 
instructed, and have carried out their instructions further than their 
employers intended. Major Sicard was removed from Tette as too 
friendly, and his successor had emissaries in the Ajawa camp. Well, 
we saw their policy, and regretted that they should be allowed to follow 
us into perfectly new regions. The regret w r as the more poignant, 
inasmuch as but for our entering in by gentleness, they durst not have 
gone. No Portuguese dared, for instance, to come up this Shire 
valley; but after our dispelling the fear of the natives by fair treat- 
ment, they came in calling themselves our 'children.' The whole 
thing culminated when this quarter was inundated with Tette slavers, 
whose operations, in connection with a marauding tribe of Ajawas, and 
a drought, completely depopulated the country. The sight of this 
made- me conclude that unless something could be done to prevent 
these raids, and take off their foolish obstructions on the rivers, which 
they never use, our work in this region was at an end. . . . Please 
the Supreme, I shall work some other point yet. In leaving, it is 
bitter to see some 900 miles of coast abandoned to those who were the 
first to begin the slave-trade, and seem determined to be the last to 
abandon it." 

AYiiting to Mr. Waller at this time he said: "I 
don't know whether I am to go on the shelf or not. If I 
do, I make Africa the shelf. If the ' Lady Nyassa ' is well 
sold, I shall manage. There is a Ruler above, and His 
providence guides all things. He is our Friend, and has 



3i4 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap, xv. 

plenty of work for all His people to do. Don't fear of 
being left idle, if willing to work for Him. I a,m glad to 
hear of Alington. If the work is of God it will come out 
all right at last. To Him shall be given of the gold of 
Sheba, and daily shall He be praised. I always think it 
was such a blessing and privilege to be led into His work 
instead of into the service of the hard taskmasters — the 
Devil and Sin." 

The reasons assigned by Earl Russell for the recall of 
the Expedition were, that, not through any fault of Dr. 
Livingstone's, it had not accomplished the objects for 
which it had been designed, and that it had proved 
much more costly than was originally expected. Pro- 
bably the Government felt likewise that their remon- 
strances with the Portuguese Government were unavailing, 
and that their relations were becoming too uncomfortable. 
Even among those most friendly to Dr. Livingstone's 
great aim, and most opposed to the slave-trade, and to 
the Portuguese policy in Africa, there were some who 
doubted whether his proposed methods of procedure 
were quite consistent with the rights of the Portuguese 
Government. His Eoyal Highness the Prince-Consort 
indicated some feeling of this kind in his interview with 
Livingstone in 1857. He expressed the feeling more 
strongly when he declined the request, made to him 
through Professor Sedgwick of Cambridge, that he would 
allow himself to be Patron of the Universities Mission. 
Dr. Livingstone knew well that from that exalted 
quarter his plans would receive no active support. That 
he should have obtained the support he did from succes- 
sive Governments and successive Foreign Secretaries, 
Liberal and Conservative, was a great gratification, if not 
something of a surprise. Hence the calmness with which 
he received the intelligence of the recall. Towards the 
Portuguese Government his feelings were not very 
sweet. On them lay the guilt of arresting a work that 



1S62-63.] LAST TWO YEARS OF THE EXPEDITION. 315 

would have conferred untold blessing on Africa. He 
determined to make this known very clearly when 
he should return to England. At a future period of 
his life he purposed, if spared, to go more fully into 
the reasons of his recall. Meanwhile his course was 
simply to acquiesce in the resolution of the British 
Government. 

It was unfortunate that the recall took place before he 
had been able to carry into effect his favourite scheme of 
placing a steamer on Lake Nyassa ; nor could he do this 
now, although the vessel on which he had spent half his 
fortune lav at the Murchison Cataracts. He had always 
cherished the hope that the Government would repay 
him at least a part of the outlay, which, instead of £3000, 
as he had intended, had mounted up to £6000. He had 
very generously told Dr. Stewart that if this should be 
done, and if he should be willing to return from Scotland 
to labour on the shores of Nyassa, he would pay him his 
expenses out, and £150 yearly, so anxious was he that 
he should begin the work. On the recall of the Expedi- 
tion, without any allowance for the ship, or even mention 
of it, all these expectations and intentions came abruptly 
to an end. 

At no previous time had Dr. Livingstone been under 
greater discouragements than now. The Expedition had 
been recalled ; his heart had not recovered from the 
desolation caused by the death of the Bishop and his 
brethren, as well as the Helmores in the Makololo 
country, and still more by the removal of Mrs. Living- 
stone, and the thought of his motherless children; the 
most heart-rending scenes had been witnessed everywhere 
in regions that a short time ago had been so bright; 
all his efforts to do good had been turned to evil, every 
new path he had opened having been seized as it were by 
the devil and turned to the most diabolical ends ; his 
countrymen were nearly all away from him ; the most 



3 i6 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xv. 

depressing of diseases had produced its natural effect ; he 
had had worries, delays, and disappointments about ships 
and boats of the most harassing kind ; and now the 
" Lady Nyassa " could not be floated in the waters of 
which he had fondly hoped to see her the angel and the 
queen. It is hardly possible to exaggerate the noble 
quality of the heart that, undeterred by all these 
troubles, resolved to take this last chance of exploring 
the banks of Nyassa, although it could only be by 
the weary process of trudge, trudge, trudging ; although 
hunger, if not starvation, blocked the path, and fever 
and dysentery flitted round it like imps of darkness ; 
although tribes, demoralised by the slave-trade, might at 
any moment put an end to him and his enterprise ; — not 
to speak of the ordinary risks of travel, the difficulty of 
finding guides, the liability to bodily hurt, the scarcity 
of food, the perils from wild beasts by night and by 
day, — risks which no ordinary traveller could think of 
lightly, but which in Livingstone's journeys drop out of 
sight, because they are so overtopped and dwarfed by 
risks that ordinary travellers never know. 

Why did not Livingstone go home ? A single 
sentence in a letter to Mr. Waller, while the recall was 
only in contemplation, explains : — " In my case, duty 
would not lead me home, and home therefore I would 
not go." Away then goes Livingstone, accompanied by 
the steward of the " Pioneer " and a handful of native 
servants (Mr. Young being left in charge of the vessel), 
to get to the northern end of the lake, and ascertain 
whether any large river flowed into it from the west, and 
if possible to visit Lake Moero, of which he had heard, 
lying a considerable way to the west. For the first time 
in his travels he carried some bottles of wine, — a present 
from the missionaries Waller and Alington ; for water 
had hitherto been his only drink, with a little hot coffee 
in the mornings to warm the stomach and ward off the 



1862-63.] LAST TWO YEARS OF THE EXPEDITION. 317 

feeling of sinking. At one time the two white men are 
lost three days in the woods, without food or the means 
of purchasing it ; but some poor natives out of their 
poverty show them kindness. At another they can 
procure no guides, though the country is difficult and 
the way intersected by deep gullies that can only be 
scaled at certain known parts; anon they are mistaken 
for slave-dealers, and make a narrow escape of a night 
attack. Another time, the cries of children remind 
Livingstone of his own home and family, where the very 
same tones of sorrow had often been heard ; the thought 
brought its own pang, only he could feel thankful that in 
the case of his children the woes of the slave-tra.de would 
never be added to the ordinary sorrows of childhood. 
Then he would enjoy the joyous laugh of some Manganja 
women, and think of the good influence of a merry heart, 
and remember that whenever he had observed a chief 
with a joyous twinkle of the eye accompanying his laugh, 
he had always set him down as a good fellow, and had 
never been disappointed in him afterwards. Then he 
would cheer his monotony by making some researches 
into the origin of civilisation, coming to the clear conclu- 
sion that born savages must die out, because they could 
devise no means of living through disease. By and by 
he would examine the Arab character, and find Maho- 
metan ism as it now is in Africa worse than African 
heathenism, and remark on the callousness of the Maho- 
metans to the welfare of one another, and on the especial 
glory of Christianity, the only religion that seeks to 
propagate itself, and through the influence of love share 
its blessings with others. Anon he would dwell on the 
primitive African faith; its recognition of one Almighty 
( Ireator, its moral code, so like our own, save in the one 
article of polygamy ; its pious recognition of a future life, 
though the element of punishment is not very conspicu- 
ous; its mild character generally, notwithstanding the 



3 1 8 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xv. 

bloodthirstiness sometimes ascribed to it, which, however, 
Livingstone held to be, at Dahomey for example, purely 
exceptional. 

Another subject that occupied him was the natural 
history of the country. He would account for desert 
tracts like Kalahari by the fact that the east and south- 
east winds, laden with moisture from the Indian Ocean, 
get cooled over the coast ranges of mountains, and having 
discharged their vapour there had no spare moisture to 
deposit over the regions that for want of it became 
deserts. The geology of Southern Africa was peculiar ; 
the geographical series described in books was not to be 
found here, for, as Sir Roderick Murchison had shown, 
the great submarine depressions and elevations that had 
so greatly affected the other continents during the 
secondary, tertiary, and more recent periods, had not 
affected Africa. It had preserved its terrestrial condi- 
tions during a long period, unaffected by any changes 
save those dependent on atmospheric influences. There 
was also a peculiarity in prehistoric Africa — it had no 
stone period ; at least no flint weapons had been found, 
and the familiarity and skill of the natives with the 
manufacture of iron seemed to indicate that they had 
used iron weapons from the first. 

The travellers had got as far as the river Loangwa (of 
Nyassa), when a halt had to be called. Some of the natives 
had been ill, and indeed one had died in the comparatively 
cold climate of the highlands. But nothing would have 
hindered Livingstone from working his way round the 
head of the lake if only time had been on his side. But 
time was inexorably against him ; the orders from Govern- 
ment were strict. He must get the " Pioneer " down to 
the sea while the river was in flood. A month or six 
weeks would have enabled him to finish his researches, 
but he could not run the risk. It would have been 
otherwise had he foreseen that when he got to the ship 



1862-63.]. LAST TWO YEARS OF THE EXPEDITION. 319 

lie would be detained two months waiting for the rising 
of the river. On their way back, they took a nearer cut, 
but found the villages all deserted. The reeds along the 
banks of the lake were crowded with fugitives. " In 
passing mile after mile, marked with the sad proofs that 
' man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands 
mourn/ one experiences an overpowering sense of help- 
lessness to alleviate human woe, and breathes a silent 
prayer to the Almighty to hasten the good time coming 
when ' man to man, the world o'er, shall brothers be for 
all that."' Near a village called Bangwe, they were 
pursued by a body of Mazitu, who retired when they 
came within ear-shot. This little adventure seemed 
to give rise to the report that Dr. Livingstone had 
been murdered by the Makololo, which reached England, 
and created no small alarm. Referring to the report 
in his jocular way, in a letter to his friend Mr. Fitch 
he says, — "A report of my having been murdered at 
the lake has been very industriously circulated by the 
Portuguese. Don't become so pale on getting a letter 
from a dead man." 

Reaching the stockade of Chinsamba in Mosapo, they 
were much pleased with that chief's kindness. Dr. 
Livingstone followed his usual method, and gained his 
usual influence. " When a chief has made any inquiries 
of us, we have found that we gave most satisfaction in 
our answers when we tried to fancy ourselves in the 
position of the interrogator, and him that of a poor un- 
educated fellow-countryman in England. The polite, 
respectful way of speaking, and behaviour of what we 
(•ill 'a thorough gentleman,' almost always secures the 
friendship and good-will of the Africans." 

On 1st November 18G3 the party reached the ship, 
and found all well. Here, as has been said, two months 
had to be spent waiting for the flood, to Dr. Livingstone's 
intense chagrin. 



320 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xv. 

While waiting here he received a letter from Bishop 
Tozer, the successor of Bishop Mackenzie, informing 
him that he had resolved to abandon the Mission on 
the continent and transfer operations to Zanzibar. Dr. 
Livingstone had very sincerely welcomed the new Bishop, 
and at first liked him, and thought that his caution 
would lead to good results. Indeed, when he saw that 
his own scheme was destroyed by the Portuguese, he had 
great hopes that what he had been defeated in, the Mis- 
sion would accomplish. Some time before, his hopes had 
begun to wane, and now the news conveyed in Bishop 
Tozer's letter was their death-blow. In his reply he im- 
plored the Bishop to reconsider the matter. After urging 
strongly some considerations bearing on the duty of 
missionaries, the reputation of Englishmen, and the 
impression likely to be made on the native mind, he 
concluded thus : — " I hope, dear Bishop, you will not 
deem me guilty of impertinence in thus writing to you 
with a sore heart. I see that if you go, the last ray of 
hope for this wretched, trodden-down people disappears, 
and I again from the bottom of my heart entreat you to 
reconsider the matter, and may the All- wise One guide 
to that decision which will be most for His glory." 

And thus, for Livingstone's lifetime, ended the Uni- 
versities Mission to Central Africa, with all the hopes 
which its bright dawn had inspired, that the great Church 
of England would bend its strength against the curse of 
Africa, and sweep it from the face of the earth. Writing 
to Sir Thomas Maclear, he said that he felt this much 
more than his own recall. He could hardly write of it ; 
he was more inclined " to sit down and cry." No mission 
had ever had such bright prospects ; notwithstanding all 
that had been said against it, he .stood by the climate as 
firmly as ever, and if he were only young, he would go 
himself and plant the gospel there. It would be done 
one day without fail, though he might not live to see it. 



1S62-63.] LAST TWO YEARS OF THE EXPEDITION. 321 

As usual, Livingstone found himself blamed for the 
removal of the Mission. The Makololo had behaved badly, 
and they were Livingstones people. " Isn't it interest- 
ing," he writes to Mr. Moore, " to get blamed for every- 
thing ? But I must be thankful in feeling that I would 
rather perish than blame another for my misdeeds and 
deficiencies." 

We have lost sight of Dr. Stewart and the projected 
mission of the Free Church of Scotland. As Dr. Living- 
stone's arrangements did not admit of his accompanying 
Dr. Stewart up the Shire, he set out alone, falling in 
afterwards with the Rev. Mr. Scudamore, a member, 
and as we have already said ultimately a martyr, of the 
Universities Mission. The report which Dr. Stewart 
made of the prospects of a mission Avas that, owing to 
the disturbed state of the country, no immediate action 
could be taken. Livingstone seemed to think him hasty 
hi this conclusion. The scheme continued to be ardently 
cherished, and some ten or twelve years after — in 1874 — 
in the formation of the "Livingstonia" mission and colony, 
a most promising and practical step was taken towards 
the fulfilment of Dr. Livingstone's views. Dr. Stewart 
has proved one of the best friends and noblest workers for 
African regeneration both at Lovedale and Livin^stonia 
— a st long man on whom other men may lean, with his 
whole heart in the cause of Africa. 

In the breaking up of the Universities Mission, it was 
necessary tli;it some arrangement should be made on be- 
half <»f about thirty boys and a few helpless old persons 
and others, a portion of the rescued slaves, who had been 
taken under the charge of the Mission, and could not be 
abandoned. The fear of the Portuguese seemed likely to 
Lead to their being left behind. But Livingstone could 
not bear the idea. He thought it would be highly 
discreditable to the good name of England, and an 
affront to the memory of Bishop Mackenzie, to " repu- 

x 



322 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xv. 

diate" his act in taking them under his protection. 
Therefore, when Bishop Tozer would not accept the 
charge, he himself took them in hand, giving orders to Mr. 
E. D. Young (as he says in his Journal), " in the event 
of any Portuguese interfering with them in his absence, 
to pitch him overboard ! " Through his influence arrange- 
ments were made, as we shall see, for conveying them to 
the Cape. Mr. R. M. Ballantyne, in his Six Months 
at the Cape, tells us that he found, some years after- 
wards, among the most efficient teachers in St. George's 
Orphanage, Cape Town, one of these black girls, named 
Dauma, whom Bishop Mackenzie had personally rescued 
and carried on his shoulders, and whom Livingstone now 
rescued a second time. 

Livingstone 's plan for himself was to sail to Bom- 
bay in the "Lady Nyassa," and endeavour to sell her 
there, before returning home. The Portuguese would 
have liked to get her, to employ her as a slaver — " But," 
he wrote to his daughter (10th August 1863), "I would 
rather see her go down to the depths of the Indian Ocean 
than that. We have not been able to do all that we 
intended for this country, owing to the jealousy and 
slave-hunting of the Portuguese. They have hindered 
us effectually by sweeping away the population into 
slavery. Thousands have perished, and wherever we 
go, human skeletons appear. I suppose that our Govern- 
ment could not prevail on the Portuguese to put a stop 
to this ; so we are recalled. I am only sorry that we 
ever began near these slavers, but the great men of 
Portugal professed so loudly their eager desire to help 
us (and in the case of the late King I think there was 
sincerity), that I believed them, and now find out that 
it was all for show in Europe. ... If missions were 
established as we hoped, I should still hope for good 
being done to this land, but the new Bishop had to pay 
fourpence for every pound weight of calico he bought, 



1862-63.] LAST TWO YEARS OF THE EXPEDITION. 323 

and calico is as much currency here as money is in 
Glasgow. It looks .as if they wished to prohibit any one 
else coming, and, unfortunately, Bishop Tozer, a good 
man enough, lacks courage. . . . What a mission it 
would be if there were no difficulties — nothing but 
walking about in slippers made by admiring young ladies 1 
Hey ! that would not suit me. It would give me the 
doldrums ; but there are many tastes in the world." 

Looking back on the work of the last six years, while 
deeply grieved that the great object of the Expedition 
had not been achieved, Dr. Livingstone was able to point 
to some important results : — 

1. The discovery of the Kongone harbour, and the 
ascertaining of the condition of the Zambesi river, and 
its fitness for navigation. 

2. The ascertaining of the capacity of the soil. It 
was found to be admirably adapted for indigo and cotton, 
as well as tobacco, castor-oil, and sugar. Its great fer- 
tility was shown by its gigantic grasses, and abundant 
crops of corn and maize. The highlands were free from 
tsetse and mosquitos. The drawback to all this was 
the occurrence of periodical droughts, once every few 
years. 

3. But every fine feature of the country was bathed 
in Liloom by the slave-trade. The image left in Dr. 
Livingstone's mind was not that of the rich, sunny, 
luxuriant country, but that of the woe and wretched- 
ness of the people. The real service of the Expedition 
was. that it had exposed slavery at its fountain-head, 
and in all its phases. First, there was the internal 
slave-trade between hostile native tribes. Then, there 
were the slave-traders from the coast, Arabs, or half- 

e Portuguese, for whom natives were encouraged to 
collect slaves by all the horrible means of marauding 
and murder. And further, there were the parties sent 
out from Portuguese and Arab coast towns, with cloth 



324 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xv. 

and beads, muskets and ammunition. The destructive 
and murderous effects of the last were the climax of 
the system. 

Dr. Livingstone had seen nothing to make him regard 
the African as of a different species from the rest of the 
human family. Nor was he the lowest of the species. 
He had a strong frame and a wonderfully persistent 
vitality, was free from many European diseases, and could 
withstand privations with wonderful light-heartedness. 

He did not deem it necessary formally to answer a 
question sometimes put, whether the African had enough 
of intellect to receive Christianity. The reception of 
Christianity did not depend on intellect. It depended, 
as Sir James Stephen had remarked, on a spiritual 
intuition, which was not the fruit of intellectual culture. 
But, in fact, the success of missions on the West Coast 
showed that not only could the African be converted to 
Christianity, but that Christianity might take root and 
be cordially supported by the African race. 

It was the accursed slave-trade, promoted by the 
Portuguese, that had frustrated everything. For some 
time to come his efforts and his prayers must be directed 
to getting influential men to see this, so that one way or. 
other the trade might be abolished for ever. The hope 
of obtaining access to the heart of Africa by another 
route than that through the Portuguese settlements was 
still in Livingstone's heart. He would go home, but 
only for a few months ; at the earliest possible moment 
he would return to look for a new route to the interior. 



1864-] QVILIMANE TO BOMBAY. 325 



CHAPTEE XVI. 

QTJILIMANE TO BOMBAY AND ENGLAND. 
A.D. 1864. 

Livingstone returns the "Pioneer" to the Navy, and is to sail in the " Nyassa" 
to Bombay — Terrific circular storm — Imminent peril of the "Nyassa" — He 
reaches Mozambique — Letter to his daughter — Proceeds to Zanzibar — His 
_meer leaves him — Scanty crew of "Nyassa" — Livingstone captain and 
engineer — Peril of the voyage of 2500 miles — Risk of the monsoons — The 
"Nyassa" becalmed — Illness of the men — Remarks on African travel — Flying- 
fish — Dolphins — Curiosities of his Journal — Idea of a colony — Furious squall 
— Two sea-serpents seen — More squalls — The "Nyassa" enters Bombay 
harbour — Is unnoticed — First visit from officer with Custom-house schedules 
— How filled up — Attention of Sir Bartle Frere and others — Livingstone goes 
with the Governor to Dapuri — His feelings on landing in India — Letter to Sir 
Thomas Maclear — He visits mission-schools, etc., at Poonah — Slaving in 
Persian Gulf — Returns to Bombay — Leaves two boys with Dr. Wilson — 
Borrows passage-money and sails for England — At Aden — At Alexandria — 
Reaches Charing Cross — Encouragement derived from his Bombay visit- - 
Two projects contemplated on his way home. 

Ox read ling the mouth of the Zambesi, Dr. Livingstone 
was fortunate in falling in, on the 13th February, with 
1 1. M.S. " Orestes," which was joined on the 14th by the 
" Ariel.'' The " Orestes" took the " Pioneer" in tow, and 
the " Ariel" the " Lady Nyassa," and brought them to 
Mozambique. The day after they set out, a circular 
storm passed over them, raging with the utmost fury, 
and creating the greatest danger. Often as Dr. Living- 
stone had been near the gates of death, he was never 
nearer than now. He had been offered a passage on 
lx»ard the " Ariel," but while there was danger he would 
not leave the " Lady Nyassa." Had the latter not been 



326 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xvi. 

an excellent sea-ship she could not have survived the 
tempest ; all the greater was Dr. Livingstone's grief that 
she had never reached the lake for which she was adapted 
so well. 

Writing to his daughter Agnes from Mozambique, 
he gives a very graphic account of the storm, after telling 
her the manner of their leaving the Zambesi : — 

"Mozambique, 2ith Feb. 1864. — When our patience had been well 
nigh exhausted the river rose and we steamed gladly down the Shire 
on the 19th of last month. An accident detained us some time, but 
on the 1st February we were close by Morumbala, where the Bishop 
[Tozer] passed a short time before bolting out of the country. I took 
two members of the Mission away in the ' Pioneer,' and thirteen 
women and children, whom having liberated we did not like to leave 
to become the certain prey of slavers again. The Bishop left twenty- 
five boys too, and these also I took with me, hoping to get them 
conveyed to the Cape, where I trust they may become acquainted with 
our holy religion. We had thus quite a swarm on board, all very 
glad to get away from a land of slaves. There were many more 
liberated, but we took only the helpless and those very anxious to be 
free and with English people. Those who could cultivate the soil 
we encouraged to do so, and left up the river. Only one boy was 
unwilling to go, and he was taken by the Bishop. It is a great pity 
that the Bishop withdrew the Mission, for he had a noble chance of 
doing great things. The captives would have formed a fine school, 
and as they had no parents he could have educated them as he liked. 

" When we reached the sea-coast at Luabo we met a man-of-war, 
H.M.S. 'Orestes.' I went to her with 'Pioneer/ and sent 'Lady 
Nyassa' round by inland canal to Kongone. Next day I went into 
Kongone in 'Pioneer;' took our things out of her, and handed her 
over to the officers of the 'Orestes.' Then H.M.S. 'Ariel' came and 
took 'Nyassa' in tow, 'Orestes' having 'Pioneer.' Captain Chap- 
man of ' Ariel ' very kindly invited me on board to save me from the 
knocking about of the ' Lady Nyassa/ but I did not like to leave so 
long as there was any danger, and accepted his invitation for Mr. Waller, 
who was dreadfully sea-sick. On 15 th we were caught by a hurri- 
cane which whirled the ' Ariel ' right round. Her sails, quickly put to 
rights, were again backed so that the ship was driven backwards and a 
hawser wound itself round her screw, so as to stop the engines. By 
this time she was turned so as to be looking right across ' Lady Nyassa/ 
and the wind alone propelling her as if to go over the little vessel. 
I saw no hope of escape except by catching a rope's-end of the big 
ship as she passed over us, but by God's goodness she glided past, and 
we felt free to breathe. That night it blew a furious gale. The 



1S64.] QUI LIMA XE TO BOMBAY. 327 

captain offered to lower a ho.it if I would come to the 'Ariel,' hut it 
would have endangered all in the boat : the waves dashed so hard 
against the sides of the vessel, it might have been swamped, and my 
going away would have taken heart out of those that remained. We 
then passed a terrible night, but the 'Lady Nyassa' did wonderfully 
well, rising like a little duck over the foaming billows. She took in 
spray alone, and no green water. The man-of-war's people expected 
that she would go down, and it was wonderful to see how well she 
did when the big man-of-war, only about 200 feet off, plunged so as 
to show a large portion of copper on her bottom, then down behind 
so as to have the sea level with the top of her bulwarks. A boat 
hung at that level was smashed. If we had gone down we could not 
have been helped in the least — pitch dark, and wind whistling above ; 
the black folks, ' ane hocking here, anither there,' and wanting us to 
go to the ' bank.' On 1 8th the weather moderated, and, the captain 
repeating his very kind offer, I went on board with a good conscience, 
and even then the boat got damaged. I was hoisted up in it, and got 
rested in what was quite a steady ship as compared with the * Lady 
Nyassa.' The 'Ariel was three days cutting off the hawser, though 
nine feet under water, the men diving and cutting it with immensely 
long chisels. On the 19 th we spoke to a Liverpool ship, requesting 
the captain to report me alive, a silly report having been circulated by 
the Portuguese that I had been killed at Lake Nyassa, and on the 
24th we entered Mozambique harbour, very thankful for our kind 
and merciful preservation. The ' Orestes ' has not arrived with the 
* Pioneer,' though she is a much more powerful vessel than the ' Ariel.' 
Here we have a fort, built in 1500, and said to be of stones brought 
from Lisbon. It is a square massive-looking structure. The town 
adjacent is Arab in appearance. The houses flat-roofed and coloured 
white, pink, and yellow ; streets narrow, with plenty of slaves on 
tin in. It is on an island, the mainland on the north being about a 
mile off." 

The " Pioneer " was delivered over to the Navy, 
being Her Majesty's property, and proceeded to the Cape 
with the " Valorous," Mr. Waller being on board with a 
portion of the mission flock. Of Mr. Waller (subsequently 
editor of the Last Journals) Dr. Livingstone remarked 
that " he continued his generous services to all connected 
with the Mission, whether white or black, till they were 
no longer needed ; his conduct to them throughout was 
truly noble, and worthy of the highest praise." 

After remaining some weeks at Mozambique for 
thorough repairs, the "Lady Nyassa" left on 16th April 



328 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xvi. 

for Johanna and Zanzibar. She was unable to touch at 
the former place, and reached Zanzibar on the 24th. 
Offers were made for her there, which might have led to 
her being sold, but her owner did not think them sufficient, 
and in point of fact, he could not make up his mind to part 
with her. He clung to the hope that she might yet be 
useful, and to sell her seemed equivalent to abandoning 
all hope of carrying out his philanthropic schemes. At 
all events, till he should consult Mr. Young he would not 
sell her at such a sacrifice. At Zanzibar he found that a 
naval gentleman, who had been lately there, had not spoken 
of him in the most complimentary terms. But it had 
not hurt him with his best friends. " Indeed, I find that 
evil-speaking against me has, by the good providence of 
my God, turned rather to my benefit. I got two of my 
best friends by being spoken ill of, for they found me so 
different from what they had been led to expect that they 
befriended me more than they otherwise would have done. 
It is the good hand of Him who has all in His power that 
influences other hearts to show me kindness." 

The only available plan now was to cross the Indian 
Ocean for Bombay, or possibly Aden, in the " Nyassa " and 
leave the ship there till he should make a run home, 
consult with his friends as to the future, and find means 
for the prosecution of his work. At Zanzibar a new 
difficulty arose. Mr. Bae, the engineer, who had now 
been with him for many years, and with whom, despite 
his peculiarities, he got on very well, signified his inten- 
tion of leaving him. He had the offer of a good situation, 
and wished to accept of it. He was not without com- 
punctions at leaving his friend in the lurch, and told 
Livingstone that if he had had no offer for the ship he 
would have gone with him, but as he had declined the 
offer made to him, he did not feel under obligation to 
do so. Livingstone was too generous to press him to 
remain. It was impossible to supply Mr. Bae s place, and 



1S64.] QUILLVAXE TO BOMBAY. 329 

if anything should go wrong with the engines, what was 
to be done ? The entire crew of the vessel consisted of 
four Europeans, namely, Dr. Livingstone — " skipper/' one 
stoker, one carpenter, and one sailor ; seven native 
Zambesians, who, till they volunteered, had never seen 
the sea, and two boys, one of whom was Chuma, after- 
wards his attendant on the last journey. With this 
somewhat sorry complement, and fourteen tons of coal, 
Dr. Livingstone set out on 30th April, on a voyage of 
2500 miles, over an ocean which he had never crossed. 

It was a very perilous enterprise, for he was informed 
that the breaking of the monsoon occurred at the end 
of May or the beginning of June. This, as he came to 
think, was too early ; but in any case, he would come very 
near the dangerous time. As he wrote to one of his 
friends, he felt jammed into a corner, and what could he 
do ? He believed from the best information he could get 
that he would reach Bombay in eighteen days. Had 
any one told him that he would be forty-five days at sea, 
and that for twenty-five of these his ship would be 
becalmed, and even when she had a favourable wind 
would not sail fast, even he would have looked pale at 
the thought of what was before him. The voyage was 
certainly a memorable one, and has only escaped fame by 
the still greater wonders performed by Livingstone on 
land. 

On the first day of the voyage, he made considerable 
way, but Collyer, one of his white men, was prostrated by 
a bilious attack. However, one of the black men speedily 
learned to steer, and took Dr. Livingstone's place at the 
wheel. Hardly was Collyer better when Pennell, another 
of his men, was seized. The chief foes of the ship were 
currents and calms. Owing to the illness of the men they 
could not steam, and the sails were almost useless. Even 
steam, when they got it up, enabled them only to creep. 
On 20th May, Livingstone, after recording but sixteen 



33o DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xvi. 

knots in the last twenty-four hours, says in his Journal : 
"This very unusual weather has a very depressing influence 
on my mind. I often feel as if I am to die on this voyage, 
and wish I had sent the accounts to the Government, as 
also my chart of the Zambesi. I often wish that I may 
be permitted to do something for the benighted of Africa. 
I shall have nothing to do at home ; by the failure of the 
Universities Mission my work seems vain. No fruit 
likely to come from J. Moffat's mission either. Have I 
not laboured in vain ? Am I to be cut off before I do 
anything to effect permanent improvement in Africa ? I 
have been unprofitable enough, but may do something 
yet, in giving information. If spared, God grant that I 
may be more faithful than I have been, and may He 
open up the way for me !" 

Next day the weather was as still as ever ; the sea a 
glassy calm, with a hot glaring sun, and sharks stalking 
about. " All ill-natured," says honest Livingstone, " and 
in this I am sorry to feel compelled to join." 

There is no sign of ill-nature, however, in the follow- 
ing remarks on African travel, in his Journal for 23d 
May :— 

" In travelling in Africa, with the specific object in view of amelio- 
rating the benighted condition of the country, every act is ennobled. 
In obtaining shelter for the night, and exchanging the customary 
civilities, purchasing food for one's party and asking the news of the 
country, and answering in their own polite way any inquiries made 
respecting the object of the journey, we begin to spread information 
respecting that people by whose agency their land will yet be made 
free from the evils that now oppress it. The mere animal pleasure of 
travelling is very great. The elastic muscles have been exercised. 
Fresh and healthy blood circulates in the veins, the eye is clear, the 
step firm, but the day's exertion has been enough to make rest 
thoroughly enjoyable. There is always the influence of the remote 
chances of danger on the mind, either from men or wild beasts, and 
there is the fellow-feeling drawn out to one's humble, hardy companions, 
with whom a community of interests and perils renders one friends 
indeed. The effect of travel on my mind has been to make it more 
self-reliant, confident of resources and presence of mind. On the body 



1S64.] QUILIMAXE TO BOMBAY. 331 

the limbs become well-knit, the muscles after six months' tramping are 
as hard as a board, the countenance bronzed as was Adam's, and no 
dyspepsia. 

" In remaining at any spot, it is to work. The sweat of the brow 
is no longer a curse when one works for God ; it is converted into a 
blessing. It is a tonic to the system. The charms of repose cannot 
be known without the excitement of exertion. Most travellers seem 
taken up with the difficulties of the way, the pleasures of roaming free 
in the most picturesque localities seem forgotten." 

Towards the end of May a breeze at last springs up ; 
many flying-fish come on board, and Livingstone is as 
usual intent on observation. He observes them fly with 
great ease a hundred yards, the dolphin pursuing them 
swiftly, but not so swiftly as they can fly. He notices 
that the dolphin's bright colours afford a warning to his 
enemies, and give them a chance of escape. Incessant 
activity is a law in obtaining food. If the prey could be 
caught with ease, and no warning were given, the 
balance would be turned against the feebler animals, and 
carnivora alone would prevail. The cat shows her 
shortened tail, and the rattlesnake shakes his tail, to 
give warning to the prey. The flying-fish has large eyes 
in proportion to other fish, yet leaps on board very often 
at night, and kills himself by the concussion. 

Livingstone is in great perplexity what to do. At 
the rate at which his ship is going it would take him 
fifteen days to reach Bombay, being one day before the 
breaking of the monsoon, which would be running it too 
close to danger. He thinks of going to Aden, but that 
would require him to go first to Maculla for water and 
provisions. When he tries Aden the wind is against him ; 
so he turns the ship's head to Bombay, though he has 
water enough for but ten or twelve days on short allow- 
ance. " May the Almighty be gracious to us all, and 
help us ! " 

His Journal is a curious combination of nautical ob- 
servations and reflections on Africa and his work. We 



332 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xvi. 

seem to hear him pacing his little deck, and thinking 
aloud : — 

" The idea of a colony in Africa, as the term colony is usually 
understood, cannot be entertained. English races cannot compete in 
manual labour of any kind with the natives, but they can take a 
leading part in managing the land, improving the quality, in creat- 
ing the quantity and extending the varieties of the productions of 
the soil ; and by taking a lead too in trade, and in all public matters, 
the Englishman would be an unmixed advantage to every one below 
and around him, for he would fill a place which is now practically vacant. 

" It is difficult to convey an idea of the country ; it is so different 
from all preconceived notions. The country in many parts rises up to 
plateaus, slopes up to which are diversified by valleys lined with trees; 
or here and there rocky bluffs jut out; the plateaus themselves are 
open prairies covered with grass dotted over with trees, and watered 
by numerous streams. Nor are they absolutely flat, their surface is 
varied by picturesque undulations. Deep gorges and ravines leading 
down to the lower levels offer special beauties, and landscapes from 
the edges of the higher plateaus are in their way unequalled. Thence 
the winding of the Shire may be followed like a silver thread or broad 
lake with its dark mountain mass behind. 

" I think that the Oxford and Cambridge missionaries have treated 
me badly in trying to make me the scapegoat for their own blunders 
and inefficiency. . . . But I shall try equitably and gently to make 
allowances for human weakness, though that weakness has caused me 
much suffering." 

On 28 th May they had something like a foretaste 
of the breaking of the monsoon, though happily that 
event did not yet take place. " At noon a dense cloud 
came down on us from E. and N.E., and blew a furious 
gale ; tore sails ; the ship, as is her wont, rolled broadside 
into it, and nearly rolled quite over. Everything was 
hurled hither and thither. It lasted half an hour, then 
passed with a little rain. It was terrible while it lasted. 
We had calm after it, and sky brightened up. Thank 
God for His goodness." 

In June there was more wind, but a peculiarity in 
the construction of the ship impeded her progress 
through the water. It was still very tedious and trying. 
Livingstone seems to have been reading books that 
would take his attention off the very trying weather. 



1S64.] QUILIMAXE TO BOMBAY. 333 

" Lord Ravens worth has been trying for twenty years 
to render the lines in Horace — 

* Dulce ridentem Lalagen amabo 
Dulce loquentem.' 

And after every conceivable variety of form this is the 
best : — 

1 The softly speaking Lai age, 
The softly smiling still for me.' 

Pity he had nothing better to engage his powers, for 
instance the translating of the Bible into one of the 
languages of the world." 

The 10th of June was introduced by a furious squall 
which tore the fore square-sail to ribbons. A curious 
sight is seen at sea : "two serpents — said to be often seen 
on the coast. One dark olive, with light yellow rings 
round it, and flattened tail; the other lighter in colour. 
They seem to be salt-water animals." 

Next day, a wet scowling morning. Frequent rains, 
and thunder in the distance. " A poor weak creature. 
Permit me to lean on an all-powerful arm." 

" The squalls usually come up right against the wind, 
and cast all our sails aback. This makes them so 
dangerous, active men are required to trim them to the 
other side. We sighted land a little before 12, the high 
land of Rutnagerry. I thought of going in, but finding 
that Ave have twenty-eight hours' steam, I changed my 
mind, and pushed on for Bombay, 115 miles distant. 
We are nearer the land down here than we like, but our 
n.w. wind has prevented us from making northing. 
We hope for a little change, and possibly may get in 
nicely. The good Lord of all help us ! 

"At 3 P.M. wind and sea high; very hazy. Rain- 
ing, witli a strong head wind ; at 8 P.M. a heavy squall 
came off the land on our east. Wind whistled through 
the rigging loudly, and we made but little progress 



334 DAVID LIVINGSTONE, [chap. xvi. 

steaming. At 11 p.m. a nice breeze sprang up from east 
and helped us. About 12 a white patch reported 
seemed a shoal, but none is marked on the chart. Steered 
a point more out from land ; another white patch 
marked in middle watch. Sea and wind lower at 3 A.M. 
At daylight we found ourselves abreast high land at least 
500 feet above sea-level. "Wind light, and from east, 
which enables us to use fore and aft try-sails. A ground- 
swell on, but we are getting along, and feel very thankful 
to Him who has favoured us. Hills not so beautifully 
coloured as those in Africa. . . . 

" At 7 p.m. a furious squall came off the land ; could 
scarcely keep the bonnets on our heads. Pitchy dark, 
except the white curl on the waves, which was phos- 
phorescent. Seeing that we could not enter the harbour, 
though we had been near, I stopped the steaming and 
got up the try-sails, and let Pennell, who has been up 
thirty hours, get a sleep. 

" 13^ June 1864. — We found that we had come 
north only about ten miles. We had calms after the 
squall, and this morning the sea is as smooth as glass, 
and a thick haze over the land. A scum as of dust on 
face of water. We are, as near as I can guess by the 
chart, about twenty-five miles from the port of Bombay. 
Came to Choul Pock at mid-day, and, latitude agreeing 
thereto, pushed on n. by w. till we came to light-ship. 
It was so hazy inland we could see nothing whatever, 
then took the direction by chart, and steered right into 
Bombay most thankfully. I mention God's good provi- 
dence over me, and beg that He may accept my spared 
life for His service." 

Between the fog and the small size of the Nyassa, her 
entrance into the harbour was not observed. Among 
Livingstone's first acts on anchoring was to give hand- 
some gratuities to those who had shared his danger and 
helped him in his straits. Going ashore, he called on the 
Governor and the police magistrate, but the one was 



1S64.] QUILIMAXE TO BOMBAY. 335 

absent and the other busy, and so he returned to the ship 
unrecognised. The schedules of the Custom-house sent 
to be tilled up were his first recognition by the autho- 
rities of Bombay. He replied that except a few bales of 
calico and a box of beads he had no merchandise ; he was 
consigned to no one ; the seamen had only their clothes, 
and he did not know a single soul in Bombay. As soon 
as his arrival was known every attention was showered 
on him by Sir Bartle Frere, the Governor, and others. 
They had been looking out for him, but he had eluded 
their notice. The Governor was residing at Dapuri, and 
on his invitation Livingstone went there. Stopping at 
Poona, he called on the missionaries, and riding on an 
elephant he saw some of the "lions" of the place. Colonel 
Stewart, who accompanied him, threw some light on the 
sea-serpent. " He told us that the yellow sea-serpent 
which we had seen before reaching Bombay is poisonous ; 
there are two kinds — one dark olive, the other pale lemon 
colour ; both have rings of brighter yellow on their tails." 

Landing in India was a strange experience, as he tells 
Sir Thomas Maclear. " To walk among the teeming 
thousands of all classes of population, and see so many 
things that reading and pictures had made familiar to the 
mind was very interesting. The herds of the buffaloes, 
kept I believe for their milk, invariably made the 
question glance across the mind, ' Where's your rifle?' 
Nor could I look at the elephants either without some- 
thing of the same feeling. Hundreds of bales of cotton 
were lying on the wharves." 

" -20th June 18G4. — Went with Captain Leith to 
Poona to visit the Free Church Mission Schools there, 
under the Rev. Mr. Mitchell, Gardner, etc. A very fine 
school of 500 boys and young men answered questions 
very well. . . . All collected together, and a few ladies 
and gentlemen for whom 1 answered questions about 
Africa. We then went to a girls' school ; the girls sang 
very nicely, then acted a little play. There were different 



336 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xvi. 

castes in all the schools, and quite mixed. After this 
we went to College, where young men are preparing 
for degrees of the University under Dr. Haug and Mr. 
Wordsworth ; then to the Roman Catholic Orphanage, 
where 200 girls are assembled, clothed, and fed under a 
French Lady Superior — dormitory clean and well aired, 
but many had scrofulous-looking sore eyes ; then home 
to meet some friends whom Lady Frere had invited, to 
save me the trouble of calling on them. Saw Mr. 
Cowan's daughter." 

" 21st June 1864. — . . . Had a conversation with the 
Governor after breakfast about the slaving going on 
towards the Persian Gulf. His idea is that they are now 
only beginning to put a stop to slavery — they did not 
know of it previously. . . . The merchants of Bombay 
have got the whole of the trade of East Africa thrown on 
their hands, and would, it is thought, engage in an effort 
to establish commerce on the coast. The present Sultan 
is, for an Arab, likely to do a good deal. He asked if I 
would undertake to be consul at a settlement, but I 
think I have not experience enough for a position of that 
kind among Europeans." 

On returning to Bombay, he saw the missionary 
institutions of the Scotch Established and Free Churches, 
and arranged with Dr. Wilson of the latter mission to 
take his two boys, Chuma and Wikatani. He arranged 
also that the " Lady Nyassa," which he had not yet sold, 
should be taken care of, and borrowing £133, 10s. for the 
passage-money of himself and John Beid, one of his men, 
embarked for old England. 

At Aden considerable rain had fallen lately ; he 
observed that there was much more vegetation than when 
he was there before, and it occurred to him that at the 
time of the Exodus the same effects probably followed 
the storms of rain, lightning, and hail in Egypt. Egypt 
was very far from green, so that Dr. Stanley must have 



1S64.] BOMBAY TO ENGLAND, 337 

visited it at another part of the year. At Alexandria, 
when he went on board the " llipon," he found the 
Maharaja Dhnleep Singh and his young Princess — the 
girl he had fancied and married from an English Egyp- 
tian school. Paris is reached on the 21st July; a day 
is spent in resting; and on the evening of the 23d he 
reaches ( Jharing Cross, and is regaled with what, after 
nearly eight years' absence, must have been true music — 
the roar of the mighty Babylon. 

The desponding views of his work which we find in 
such entries in his Journal as that of 20th May must not 
be held to express his deliberate mind. It must not be 
thought that he had thrown aside the motto which had 
helped him as much as it had helped his royal country- 
man, Robert Bruce — "Try again." He had still some 
arrows in his quiver. And his short visit to Bombay was 
a source of considerable encouragement. The merchants 
there, who had the East African trade in their hands, 
encouraged him to hope that a settlement for honest 
traffic might be established to the north of the region 
over which the Portuguese claimed authority. As 
Livingstone moved homewards he was revolving two 
projects. The first was to expose the atrocious slave- 
trading of the Portuguese, which had not only made all 
his labour fruitless, but had used his very discoveries as 
channels for spreading fresh misery over Africa. The 
thought warmed his blood, and he felt like a Highlander 
with his hand on his claymore. The second project was 
to find means for a new settlement at the head of the 
Rovuma, or somewhere else beyond the Portuguese lines, 
which he would return in the end of the year to est abli si 1. 
Writing a short book might help to accomplish both 
these projects. As yet, the idea of finding the sources of 
the Nile was not in his mind. It was at the earnest 
request of others that lie undertook the work that cost 
him so many years of suffering, and at last his life. 

Y 



338 Z>A VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xvn. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

SECOND VISIT HOME. 
A.D. 1864-65. 

Dr. Livingstone and Sir R. Murchison — At Lady Palmerston's reception—at other 
places in London — Sad news of his son Robert — His early death — Dr. 
Livingstone goes to Scotland — Pays visits — Consultation with Professor Syme 
as to operation — Visit to Duke of Argyll — to Ulva — He meets Dr. Duff — 
At launch of a Turkish frigate — At Hamilton — Goes to Bath to British 
Association — Delivers an address — Dr. Colenso — At funeral of Captain Speke 
— Bath speech offends the Portuguese — Charges of Lacerda — He visits Mr. 
and Mrs. Webb at Newstead — Their great hospitality — The Livingstone room 
— He spends eight months there writing his book — He regains elasticity and 
playfulness — His book — Charles Livingstone's share — He uses his influence 
for Dr. Kirk — Delivers a lecture at Mansfield — Proposal made to him by Sir 
P. Murchison to return to Africa— Letter from Sir Roderick — His reply— He 
will not cease to be a missionary — Letter to Mr. James Young — Overtures 
from Foreign Office — Livingstone displeased — At dinner of Royal Academy — 
His speech not reported — President Lincoln's assassination— Examination by 
Committee of House of Commons — His opinion on the capacity of the negro — 
He goes down to Scotland — Tom Brown's School Days— His mother very 
ill — She rallies — He goes to Oxford — Hears of his mother's death — Returns — 
He attends examination of Oswell's school — His speech — Goes to London, 
preparing to leave— Parts from Mr. and Mrs. Webb — Stays with Dr. and Mrs. 
Hamilton — Last days in England. 

On reaching London, Dr. Livingstone took up his quarters 
at the Tavistock Hotel ; but he had hardly swallowed 
dinner, when he was off to call on Sir Roderick and Lady 
Murchison. 

"Sir Roderick took me off with him, just as I was, 
to Lady Palmerston's reception. My lady very gracious — ■ 
gave me tea herself. Lord Palmerston looking well. 
Had two conversations with him about slave-trade. Sir 



1864-65] SECOND VISIT HOME. 339 

Roderick says that he is more intent on maintaining his 
policy on that than on any other thing. And so is she 
— a wonderfully fine, matronly lady. Her daughters are 
grown up. Lady Shaftesbury like her mother in beauty 
and grace. Saw and spoke to Sir Charles Wood about 
India, ' his Eastern Empire' as he laughingly called it. 
Spoke to Duke and Duchess of Somerset. All say very 
polite things, and all wonderfully considerate." 

An invitation to dine with Lord Palmerston on the 
29th detained him for a few days from going down to 
Scotland. 

"Monday, 25th July. — Went to Foreign Office. . . . 
Got a dress suit at Nicol and Co.'s, and dined with Lord 
and Lady Dunmore. Very clever and intelligent man, 
and lady very sprightly. Thence to Duchess of Welling- 
ton's reception. A grand company — magnificent rooms. 
Met Lord and Lady Colchester, Mrs. F. Peel, Lady 
Emily Peel, Lady de Redcliffe, Lord Broughton, Lord 
Houghton, and many more whose names escaped me. 
Ladies wonderfully beautiful — rich and rare were the 
gems they wore. 

" 26th July. — Go to Wimbledon with Mr. Murray, and 
see Sir Bartle Frere's children. . . . See Lord Russell — 
his manner is very cold, as all the R-ussells are. Saw Mr. 
Layard too; he is warm mid frank. Received an invita- 
tion from the Lord Mayor to dine with Her Majesty's 
Ministers. 

" 27th July. — Hear the sad news that Robert is in the 
American army. . . . Went to Lord Mayor Lawrence's 
to dinner. . . . ' 

With reference to the "sad news" of Robert, which 
made Ins father very heavy-hearted during the first part 
of his visit home, it is light to state a few particulars, as 
the painful subject found its way into print, and was 
not always recorded accurately. Robert had some pro- 
mising qualities, and those who know and understood 



34 o DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xvii. 

him had good hopes of his turning out well. But he was 
extremely restless, as if, to use Livingstone's phrase, he 
had got " a deal of the vagabond nature from his father ;" 
and school-life was very irksome to him. With the view 
of joining his father, he was sent to Natal, but he found 
no opportunity of getting thence to the Zambesi. Leav- 
ing Natal, he found his way to America, and at Boston 
he enlisted in the Federal army. The service was as hot 
as could be. In one battle, two men were killed close to 
him by shrapnel shell, a rifle bullet passed close to his 
head, and killed a man behind him ; other two were 
wounded close by him. His letters to his sister expressed 
his regret at the course of his life, and confessed that his 
troubles were due to his disobedience. So far was he 
from desiring to trade on his father's name, that in en- 
listing he assumed another, nor did any one in the army 
know whose son it was that was fighting for the freedom 
of the slave. Meeting the risks of battle with daunt- 
less courage, he purposely abstained, even in the heat 
of a charge, from destroying life. Not long after, Dr. 
Livingstone learned that in one of his battles he was 
wounded and taken prisoner ; then came a letter from a 
hospital, in which he again expressed his intense desire 
'to travel. But his career had come to its close. He 
died in his nineteenth year. His body lies in the great 
national cemetery of Gettysburg, in Pennsylvania, in 
opening which Lincoln uttered one of those speeches 
that made his name dear to Livingstone. Whatever 
degree of comfort or hope his father might derive from 
Robert's last letters, he felt saddened by his unsatis- 
factory career. Writing to his friend Moore (5 th 
August) he says : "I hope your eldest son will do well 
in the distant land to which he has gone. My son is in 
the Federal army in America, and no comfort. The secret 
ballast is often applied by a kind hand above, when to out- 
siders we appear to be sailing gloriously with the wind." 



1864-65.] SECOXD VISIT HOME. 341 

" 2 { Mh Juhi. — Called on Mr. Gladstone; he was very affable — 
spoke about the Mission, and asked if I had told Lord Russell about 
it. . . . Visited Lady Franklin and Miss Cracroft, her niece. . . . 
Dined with Lord and Lady Palmerston, Lady Shaftesbury, and Lady 
Victoria Ashley, the Portuguese Minister, Count d'Azeglio (Sardinian 
Minister), Mr. Calcraft — a very agreeable party. Mr. Calcraft and I 
walked home after retiring. He is cousin to Colonel Steele; the 
colonel has gone abroad with his daughter, who is delicate." 

"Saturday, 31 st July 1864. — Came down by the morning train to 
liar 1 mm, and met my old friend Mr. Young, who took me to Lime- 
field, and introduced me to a nice family." 

Dr. Livingstone's relation to Mr. Young's family was 
very close and cordial. Hardly one of the many notes 
and letters he wrote to his friend fails to send greetings 
to " Ma- James," as he liked to call Mrs. Young, after the 
African fashion. It is not only the playful ease of his 
letters that shows how much he felt at home with Mr. 
Young, — the same thing appears from the frequency with 
which he sought his counsel in matters of business, and 
the value which he set upon it. 

" Sunday, 1st August. — Went to the U.P. church, and heard ex-, 
cellent sermons. Was colder this time than on my former visit to 
Scotland. 

u 2d August. — Reached Hamilton. Mother did not know me at 
first. Anna Mary, a nice sprightly child, told me that she preferred 
Garibaldi buttons on her dress, as I walked down to Dr. Loudon to 
thank him for kindness to my mother. 

" od August — Agnes, Oswell, and Thomas came. I did not 
recognise Tom, he has grown so much. Has been poorly a long while ; 
stion of the kidney, it is said. Agnes quite tall, and Anna Mary 
a nice little girl." 

The next few days were spent with his family, and in 
visits to the neighbourhood. He had a consultation with 
Professor Syme as to a surgical operation recommended 
for an ailment that had troubled him ever since his first 
great journey ; he was strongly urged to have the opera- 
tion performed, and probably it would have been better 
if he had ; but he finally declined, partly because an old 
medical friend was against it, but chiefly, as he told Sir 



342 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xvii. 

Roderick, because the matter would get into the news- 
papers, and he did not like the public to be speaking of 
his infirmities. On the 17th he went to Inveraray to 
visit the Duke of Argyll. He was greatly pleased with 
his reception, and his Journal records the most trifling 
details. What especially charmed him was the con- 
siderate forethought in making him feel at his ease. 
' 'On Monday morning I had the honour of planting two 
trees beside those planted by Sir John Lawrence and the 
Marquis of Lansdowne, and by the Princess of Prussia 
and the Crown Prince. The coach came at twelve o'clock, 
and I finished the most delightful visit I ever made." 

Next day he went to Oban, and the day after by 
steamer to Iona and Staffa, and thereafter to Aros, in 
Mull. Next day Captain Greenhill took him in his yacht 
to Ulva. 

"In 1848 the kelp and potatoes failed, and the pro- 
prietor, a writer from Stirling, reduced the population 
from six hundred to one hundred. None of my family 
remain. The minister, Mr. Fraser, had made inquiries 
some years ago, and found" an old woman who remem- 
bered my grandfather living at Uamh, or the Cave. It 
is a sheltered spot, with basaltic rocks jutting out of the 
ground below the cave ; the walls of the house remain, 
and the corn and potato patches are green, but no one 
lives there. . . ." 

Returning to Oban on the 24th August, " . f » I 
then came by the Crinan Canal, and at Glasgow end 
thereof met that famous missionary, Dr. Duff, from India. 
A fine, tall, noble-looking man, with a white beard and a 
twitch in his muscles which shows that the Indian climate 
has done its work on him. . . . Home to Hamilton." 

The Highlanders everywhere claimed him ; " they 
cheered me," he writes to Sir Roderick, "as a man and a 
brother." 

The British Association was to meet at Bath this 



1864-65-] SECOXD VISIT HOME. 343 

autumn, and Livingstone was to give a lecture on Africa. 
It was a dreadful thought. " Worked at my Bath speech. 
A cold shiver comes over me when I think of it. Ugh!" 
Then he went with his daughter Agnes to see a beautiful 
sight, the launching of a Turkish frigate from Mr. Napier's 
yard — " 8000 tons weight plunged into the Clyde, and 
sent a wave of its dirty water over to the other side." 
The Turkish Ambassador, Muslims Pasha, was one of the 
party at Shandon, and he and Livingstone travelled in the 
same carriage. At one of the stations they were greatly 
cheered by the Volunteers. " The cheers are for you," 
Livingstone said to the Ambassador, with a smile. " No," 
said the Turk, "I am only what my master made me; 
you are what you made yourself." When the party 
reached the Queen's Hotel, a working man rushed across 
the road, seized Livingstone's hand, saying, " I must 
shake your hand," clapped him on the back, and rushed 
back again. " You'll not deny, now," said the Ambassador, 
" that that 's for you." 

Returning to Hamilton, he notes, on 4th September : 
" Church in the forenoon to hear a stranger, in the after- 
noon to hear Mr. Buchan give an excellent sermon." On 
5th, Gth, 7th, he is at the speech. On 8th he receives a 
most kind invitation from Mr. and Mrs. Webb of New- 

1 1 Abbey, to make their house his home. Mr. Webb 
was a very old friend, a great hunter, who had seen Liv- 
ingstone at Kolobeng, and formed an attachment to him 
which continued as warm as ever to the last day of Living- 
stun e'a life. Livingstone and his daughter Agnes reach 
Bath on the 1 5th, and become the guests of Dr. and Miss 
Watson, of both of whom he writes in the highest terms. 

" On Sunday, heard a good sermon from Mr. Fleming. 
Bishop ( lolenso called on me. He was very much cheered 
by many people ; it is evident that they admire his pluck, 
and consider him a persecuted man. Went to the 
theatre on Monday, 19th, to deliver my address. When 



^44 I>A VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xvii. 

in the green-room, a loud cheering was made for Bishop 
Colenso, and some hisses. It was a pity that he came to 
the British Association, as it looks like taking sides. Sir 
Charles Lyell cheered and clapped his hands in a most 
vigorous way. . Got over the address nicely. People 
very kind and indulgent — 2500 persons present, but it is 
a place easily spoken in." 

When Bishop Colenso moved the vote of thanks to 
Dr. Livingstone for his address, occasion was taken by 
some narrow and not very scrupulous journals to raise a 
prejudice against him. He was represented as sharing 
the Bishop's theological views. For this charge there 
was no foundation, and the preceding extract from his 
Journal will show that he felt the Bishop's presence to be 
somewhat embarrassing. Dr. Livingstone was eminently 
capable of appreciating Dr. Colenso's chivalrous backing 
of native races in Africa, while he differed toto ccelo from 
his theological views. In an entry in his Journal a 
few days later he refers to an African traveller who had 
got a high reputation without deserving it, for " he sank 
to the low estate of the natives, and rather admired 
Essays and Reviews.'" 

The next passage we give from his Journal refers to 
the melancholy end of another brother-traveller, of whom 
he always spoke with respect : — 

" 23<i Sept. — Went to the funeral of poor Captain 
Speke, who when out shooting on the 15th, the day I 
arrived at Bath, was killed by the accidental discharge of 
his gun. It was a sad shock to me, for, having corre- 
sponded with him, I anticipated the pleasure of meeting 
him, and the first news Dr. Watson gave me was that of 
his death. He was buried at Dowlish, a village where 
his family have a vault. Captain Grant, a fine fellow, 
put a wreath or immortelle upon the coffin as it passed 
us in church. It was composed of mignonette and wild 
violets." 



1864-65.] . SECOND f/SIT HOME. 



345 



The Bath speech gave desperate offence to the Portu- 
guese. Livingstone thought it a good sign, wrote play- 
fully to Mr. Webb that they were " cussin' and swearin 
dreadful/' and wondered if they would keep their senses 
when the book came out. In a postscript to the preface 
to The Zambesi and its Tributaries he says, " Senhor 
Lacerda has endeavoured to extinguish the facts 
adduced by me at Bath by a series of papers in the 
Portuguese official journal ; and their Minister for Foreign 
Affairs has since devoted some of the fimds of his 
Government to the translation and circulation of Senhor 
Lacerda's articles in the form of an English tract." He 
replies to the allegations of the pamphlet on the main 
points. But he was too magnanimous to make allusion 
to the shameless indecency of the personal charges against 
himself. "It is manifest," said Lacerda, "without the 
reason to doubt, that Dr. Livingstone, under the 
pretext of propagating the Word of God (this being the 
least in which he employed himself) and the advancement 
of geographical and natural science, made all his steps 
and exertions subservient to the idea of . . . eventually 
causing the loss to Portugal of the advantages of the rich 
commerce of the interior, and in the end, when a favour- 
able occasion arose, that of the very territory itself." 
Lacerda then quoted the bitter letter of Mr. Rowley in 
illustration of Livingstone's plans and methods, and urged 
remonstrance as a duty of the Portuguese Government. 
" Nor," he continued, " ought the Government of Por- 
tugal to stop here. It ought, as we have said, to go 
further ; because from what his countrymen say of 
Livingstone — and to which he only answers by a mere 
vain negation, — from what he unhesitatingly declares of 
himself and his intentions, and from what must be 
known to the Government by private information from 
their delegates, it is obvious that such men as Living- 
stone may become extremely prejudicial to the interests 



346 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xvii. 

of Portugal, especially when resident in a public capacity 
in our African possessions, if not efficiently watched, if 
their audacious and mischievous actions are not restrained. 
If steps are not taken in a proper and effective manner, 
so that they may be permitted only to do good, if 
indeed good can come from such," etc. 

"26th Sept. — Agnes and I go to-day to Newstead Abbey, Notts. 
Eeach it about 9 p.m., and find Mr. and Mrs. Webb all I anticipated 
and more. A splendid old mansion with a wonderful number of 
curiosities in it, and magnificent scenery around. It was the residence 
of Lord Byron, and his furniture is kept " [in his private rooms] "just as 
he left it. His character does not shine. It appears to have been 
horrid. ... He made a drinking cup of a monk's skull found under 
the high altar, with profane verses on the silver setting, and kept his 
wine in the stone coffin. These Mrs. Webb buried, and all the bones 
she could find that had been desecrated by the poet." 

In a letter to Sir Thomas Maclear he speaks of the 
poet as one of those who, like many others — some of 
them travellers who abused missionaries, — considered it a 
fine thing to be thought awfully bad fellows. 

"27th. — Went through the whole house with our kind hosts, and 
saw all the wonders, which would require many days properly to 
examine. . . . 

" 2d October. — Took Communion in the chapel of the Abbey. God 
grant me to be and always to act as a true Christian. 

" 3d. — Mr. and Mrs. Webb kindness itself personified. A blessing 
be on them and their children from the Almighty ! " 

When first invited to reside at Newstead Abbey, Dr. 
Livingstone declined, on the ground that he was to , be 
busy writing a book, and that he wished to have some of 
his children with him, and in the case of Agnes, to let 
her have music lessons. His kind friends, however, were 
resolved that these reasons should not stand in the way. 
and arrangements were made by them accordingly. Dr. 
Livingstone continued to be their guest for eight months, 
and received from them all manner of assistance. Some- 
times Mr. and Mrs. Webb, Mrs. Goodlake (Mrs. Webb's 
mother), and his daughter Agnes would all be busy 



1864-65.] SECOND VISIT HOME. 347 

copying his journals. The " Livingstone room," as it is 
called, in the Sussex tower, is likely to be associated 
with his name while the building lasts. It was his habit 
to rise early and work at his book, to return to his task 
after breakfast and continue till luncheon, and in the 
afternoon have a long walk with Mr. Webb. It is only 
when the book is approaching its close that we find him 
working "till two in the morning." One of his chief 
recreations was in the field of natural history, watching 
experiments with the spawning of trout. He endeared 
himself to all, high and low ; was a special favourite with 
the children, and did not lose opportunities to commend, 
in the way he thought best, those high views of life and 
duty which had been so signally exemplified in his own 
career. The playfulness of his nature found full and 
constant scope at Newstead ; he regained an almost 
boj ish flow of animal spirits, revelled in fun and frolic in 
his short notes to friends like Mr. Young, or Mr. Webb 
when he happened to be absent ; wrote in the style of 
Mr. Punch, and called his opponents by ludicrous names ; 
yet never forgot the stern duty that loomed before him, 
or allowed the enjoyment and abandon of the moment to 
divert him from the death-struggle on behalf of Africa in 
which he had yet to engage. 

The book was at first to be a little one, — a blast of 
the trumpet against the monstrous slave-trade of the 
Portuguese ; but it swelled to a goodly octavo, and 
embraced the history of the Zambesi Expedition. Charles 
Livingstone had written a full diary, and in order that 
Lis name might be on the title-page, and he might have 
the profits of the American edition, his journal was made 
use of in the writing of the book; but the arrangement 
awkward; sometimes Livingstone forgot the under- 
standing of joint-authorship, and he found that he could 
more easily have written the whole from the foundation. 
At first it was designed that the book should appear 



348 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xvii. 

early in the summer of 1865, but when the printing was 
finished the map was not ready ; and the publication 
had to be delayed till the usual season in autumn. 

The entries in his Journal are brief and of little 
general interest during the time the book was getting 
ready. Most of them have reference to the affairs of 
other people. As he finds that Dr. Kirk is unable to 
undertake a work on the botany and natural history of 
the Expedition, unless he should hold some permanent 
situation, he exerts himself to procure a Government 
appointment for him, recommending him strongly to 
Sir R Murchison and others, and is particularly grati- 
fied by a reply to his application from the Earl of 
Dalhousie, who wrote that he regarded his request as a 
command. He is pleased to learn that, through the 
kind efforts of Sir "Roderick, his brother Charles has been 
appointed Consul at Fernando Po. He sees the American 
minister, who promises to do all he can for Robert, but 
almost immediately after, the report comes that poor Robert 
has died in a hospital in Salisbury, N. Carolina. He de- 
livers a lecture at the Mechanics' Institute at Mansfield, but 
the very idea of a speech always makes him ill, and in this 
case it brings on an attack of haemorrhoids, with which he 
had not been troubled for long. He goes to London to a 
meeting of the Geographical Society, and hears a paper 
of Burton's — a gentleman from whose geographical views 
he dissents, as he does from his views on subjects more 
important. In regard to his book he says very little ; 
four days, he tells us, were spent in writing the de- 
scription of the Victoria Falls; and on the 15th April 
1865 he summons his daughter Agnes to take his pen 
and write finis at the end of his manuscript. On 
leaving Newstead on the 25 th, he writes, " Parted with 
our good friends the Webbs. And may God Almighty 
bless and reward them and their family ! " 

Some time before this, a proposal was made to him 



1864-65] SECOXD VISIT HOME. 349 

by Sir Roderick Murchison which in the end gave a new 
direction to the remaining part of his life. It was 
brought before him in the following letter : — 

"Jan. 5, 1865. 

'* My dear Livingstone, — As to your future, I am anxious to 
know what your own wish is as respects a renewal of African explora- 
tion. 

"Quite irrespective of missionaries or political affairs, there is at 
this moment a question of intense geographical interest to be settled : 
namely, the watershed, or watersheds, of South Africa. 

"Now, if you would really like to be the person to finish off your 
remarkable career by completing such a survey, unshackled by other 
avocations than those of the geographical explorer, I should be de- 
lighted to consult my friends of the Society, and take the best steps to 
promote such an enterprise. 

'•Tor example, you might take your little steamer to the Rovuma, 
and. getting up by water as far as possible in the rainy season, then 
try to reach the south end of the Tanganyika. Thither you might 
transport a light boat, or build one there, and so get to the end of that 
sheet of water. 

'• Various questions might be decided by the way, and if you could 
get to the west, and come out on that coast, or should be able to reach 
the White Nile (.'), you would bring back an unrivalled reputation, and 
would have settled all the great disputes now pending. 

"If you do not like to undertake the purely geographical work, I am 
of opinion that no one, after yourself, is so fitted to carry it out as Dr. 
Kirk. I know that he thinks of settling down now at home. But if 
he could delay this home-settlement for a couple of years, he would 
not only make a large sum of money by his book of travels, but would 
have a renown that would give him an excellent introduction as a 
medical man. 

"I have heard you so often talk of the enjoyment you feel when in 
Africa, that I cannot believe you now think of anchoring for the rest 
of your life on the mud and sand banks of England. 

"Let me know your mind on the subject. When is the book to 
appear ? Kind love to your daughter. — Yours sincerely, 

"Rod ck I. Murchison." 

Livingstone begins his answer by assuring Sir Roderick 
that he never contemplated settling down quietly in 
England; it would be time enough for that when he 
was in his dotage. "I should like the exploration you 
propose very much, and had already made up my mind 
to go up the Rovuma, pass by the head of Lake Nyassa, 



35o DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xvii. 

and away west or north-west as might be found practic- 
able." He would have been at this ere now, but his 
book chained him, and he feared that he could not take 
back the "Lady Nyassa" to Africa, with the monsoon 
against him, so that he must get a boat to explore the 
Rovuma. 

" What my inclination leads me to prefer is to have intercourse 
with the people, and do what I can by talking, to enlighten them on the 
slave-trade, and give them some idea of our religion. It may not be 
much that I can do, but I feel when doing that I am not living in 
vain. You remember that when, to prevent our coming to a stand- 
still, I had to turn skipper myself, the task was endurable only because 
I was determined that no fellow should prove himself indispensable to 
our further progress. To be debarred from spending most of my time 
in travelling, in exploration, and continual intercourse with the natives, 
I always felt to be a severe privation, and if I can get a few hearty 
native companions, I shall enjoy myself, and feel that I am doing my 
duty. As soon as my book is out, I shall start." 

In Livingstone's Journal, 7th January 1865, we find 
this entry : " Answered Sir Roderick about going out. 
Said I could only feel in the way of duty by working as 
a missionary." The answer is very noteworthy in the 
view of what has so often been said against Livingstone 
— that he dropt the missionary to become an explorer. To 
understand the precise bearing of the proposal, and of 
Livingstone's reply, it is necessary to say that Sir Roderick 
had a conviction, which he never concealed, that the 
missionary enterprise encumbered and impeded the geo- 
graphical. He had a special objection to an Episcopal 
mission, holding that the planting of a Bishop and staff on 
territory dominated by the Portuguese, was an additional 
irritant, rousing ecclesiastical jealousy, and bringing it to 
the aid of commercial and political apprehensions as to 
the tendency of the English enterprise. Neither mission 
nor colony could succeed in the present state of the 
country ; they could only be a trouble to the geographical 
explorer. On this point Livingstone held his own views. 
He could only feel in the line of duty as a missionary. 



1864-65.J SECOXD VISIT HOME. 351 

Whatever he mio-ht or might not be able to do in that 
capacity, he would never abandon it, and, in particular, 
he would never come under an obligation to the Geogra- 
phical Society that he would serve them "unshackled by 
other avocations than those of the geographical explorer." 
A letter to Mr. James Young throws light on the 
feelings with which he regarded Sir Roderick's proposal : — 

" 20th January 1865. — I am not sure but I told you already that 
Sir Roderick and I have been writing about going out, and my fears 
that I must sell ' Lady Nyassa/ because the monsoon will be blow- 
ing from Africa to India before I get out," and it won't do for me to 
keep her idle. I must go down to the Seychelles Islands (tak' yer 
speks and keek at the map or gougrafy), then run my chance to get 
over by a dhow or man-of-war to the Rovuma, going up that river in 
a boat, till we get to the cataracts, and then tramp. I must take 
Belochees from India, and may go down the lake to get Makololo, if 
the Indians don't answer. I would not consent to go simply as a 
pher, but as a missionary, and do geography by the way, because 
I feel I am in the way of duty when trying either to enlighten these 
poor people, or open their land to lawful commerce." 

It was at this time that Mr. Hay ward, Q.C., while on 
a visit to Newstead, brought an informal message from 
Lord Palmerston, who wished to know what he could do 
for Livingstone. Had Livingstone been a vain man, 
wishing a handle to his name, or had he even been bent on 
getting what would be reasonable in the way of salary 
for himself, or of allowance for his children, now was 
his chance of accomplishing his object. But so single- 
hen tod was lie in his philanthropy that such thoughts 
did not so much as enter his mind ; there was one thing, 
and one only, which he wished Lord Palmerston to 
secure — free access to the highlands, by the Zambesi 
and Shire', to be made good by a treaty with Portugal. 
It is satisfactory to record that the Foreign Office has at 
last made arrangements to this effect. 

Wliile the proposal on the part of the President of 
the Geographical Society was undergoing consideration, 
certain overtures were made to Dr. Livingstone by the 



352 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xvii. 

Foreign Office. On the 11th of March he called at 
the office, at the request of Mr. Layard, who propounded 
a scheme that he should have a commission giving 
him authority over the chiefs, from the Portuguese boun- 
dary to Abyssinia and Egypt ; the office to carry no 
salary. When a formal proposal to this effect was sub- 
mitted to him, with the additional proviso that he was 
to be entitled to no pension, he could not conceal his 
irritation. For himself he was just as willing as ever to 
work as before, without hope of earthly recompence, and 
to depend on the petition, " Give us this day our daily 
bread ; " but he thought it ungenerous to take advantage 
of his well-known interest in Africa to deprive him of the 
honorarium which the most insignificant servant of Her 
Majesty enjoyed. He did not like to be treated like a 
charwoman. As for the pension, he had never asked it, 
and counted it offensive to be treated as if he had shown 
a greed which required to be repressed. It came out, 
subsequently, that the letter had been written by an 
underling, but when Earl Russell was appealed to, he 
would only promise a salary when Dr. Livingstone should 
have settled somewhere ! The whole transaction had a 
very ungracious aspect. 

Before publishing his book, Dr. Livingstone had asked 
Sir Roderick Murchison's advice as to the wisdom of 
speaking his mind on two somewhat delicate points. In 
reply, Sir Roderick wrote : "If you think you have been 
too hard as to the Bishop or the Portuguese, you can 
modify the phrases. But I think that the truth ought to 
be known, if only in vindication of your own conduct, and to 
account for the little success attending your last mission." 

We continue our extracts from his Journal : — 

" 26th April 1865. — In London. Horrified by news of President 
Lincoln's assassination, and the attempt to murder Seward." 

"29th April. — Went down to Crystal Palace, with Agnes, to a 
Saturday Concert. The music very fine. Met Waller, and lost a 
train. Came up in hot haste to the dinner of the Royal Academy. 



1864-65-] SECOXD VISIT HOME. 353 

. . . Sir Charles Eastlake, President ; Archbishops of Canterbury and 
York on each side of the chair ; all the Ministers present, except Lord 
Palmerston, who is ill of gout in the hand. Lord Russell, Lord Gran- 
ville, and Duke of Somerset, sat on other side of table from Sir Henry 
Holland, Sir Roderick, and myself. Lord Clarendon was close enough 
to lean back and clap me on the shoulder, and ask me when I was 
going out. Duke of Argyll, Bishops of Oxford and London, were 
within earshot ; Sir J. Romilly, the Master of the Icolls, was directly 
in front, on the other side of our table. He said that he watched all 
my movements with great interest. . . . Lord Derby made a good 
Bpeech. The speeches were much above the average. I was not told 
that I was expected to speak till I got in, and this prevented my 
eating. When Lord John Manners complimented me after my speech, 
I mentioned the effect the anticipation had on me. To comfort me he 
said that the late Sir Robert Peel never enjoyed a dinner in these cir- 
cumstances, but sat crumbling up his bread till it became quite a heap 
on the table. . . . My speech was not reported. 

" 2d Mm/. — Met Mr. Elwin, formerly editor of the Quarterly. He 
said that Forster, one of our first-class writers, had told him that the 
most characteristic speech was not reported, and mentioned the heads 
— as, the slave trade being of the same nature as thuggee, garrotting; 
the tribute I paid to our statesmen; and the way that Africans have 
been drawn, pointing to a picture of a woman spinning. This non- 
reporting was much commented on, which might, if I needed it, prove a 
solace to my wounded vanity. But I did not feel offended. Everything 
good for me will be given, and I take all as a little child from its father. 

"Heard a capital sermon from Dr. Hamilton [Regent Square. 
Church], on President Lincoln's assassination. 'It is impossible but 
that offences will come,' etc. He read part of the President's address 
at .-frond inauguration. In the light of subsequent events it is grand. 
If every drop of blood shed by the lash must be atoned for by an 
equal number of white men's vital fluid, — righteous, Lord, are Thy 
judgments ! The assassination has awakened universal sympathy and 
indignation, and will lead to more cordiality between the countries. 
The Queen has written an autograph letter to Mrs. Lincoln, and Lords 
and Commons have presented addresses to Her Majesty, praying her 
to convey their sentiments of horror at the fearful crime. 

u \Sth May 1865. — Was examined by the Committee [of the 
of Commons] on the West Coast; was rather nervous and 
confused, but let them know pretty plainly that I did not agree with 
the aspersions cast on missions." 

In a letter to Mr. Webb, lie writes cl pvopos of this 
examination : — 

"The monstrous mistake of the Burton school is this: they ignore 
the point-blank fact that the men that do the most for the mean whites 

X 



354 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xvii. 

are the same that do the most for the mean blacks, and you never 
hear one mother's son of them say, You do wrong to give to the whites. 
I told the Committee I had heard people say that Christianity made 
the blacks worse, but did not agree with them. I might have said it 
was ' rot,' and truly. I can stand a good deal of bosh, but to tell me 
that Christianity makes people worse — ugh ! Tell that to the young 
trouts. Yen know on what side I am, and I shall stand to my side, Old 
Pam fashion, through thick and thin. I don't agree with all my side 
say and do. I won't justify many things, but for the great cause of 
human progress I am heart and soul, and so are you? 

Dr. Livingstone was asked at this time to attend a 
public meeting on behalf of American freedmen. It was 
not in his power to go, but, in apologising, he was at 
pains to express his opinion on the capacity of the negro, 
in connection with what was going on in the United 
States : — 

" Our kinsmen across the Atlantic deserve oar warmest sympathy. 
They have passed, and are passing, through trials, and are encompassed 
with difficulties which completely dwarf those of our Irish famine, and 
not the least of them is the question, what to do with those freedmen 
for whose existence as slaves in America our own forefathers have so 
much to answer. The introduction of a degraded race from a barbarous 
country was a gigantic evil, and if the race cannot be elevated, an evil 
beyond remedy. Millions can neither be amalgamated nor transported, 
and the presence of degradation is a contagion which propagates itself 
among the more civilised. But I have no fears as to the mental and 
moral capacity of the Africans for civilisation and upward progress. 
We who suppose ourselves to have vaulted at one bound to the extreme 
of civilisation, and smack our lips so loudly over our high elevation, 
may find it difficult to realise the debasement to which slavery has 
sunk those men, or to appreciate what, in the discipline of the sad 
school of bondage, is in a state of freedom real and substantial progress. 
But I, who have been intimate with Africans who have never been 
denied by the slave-trade, believe them to be capable of holding an 
honourable rank in the family of man." 

Wherever slavery prevailed, or the effects of slavery 
were found, Dr. Livingstone's testimony against it was 
clear and emphatic. Neither personal friendship nor any 
other consideration under the sun could repress it. When 
his friends Sir Roderick and Mr. Webb afterwards ex- 
pressed their sympathy with Governor Eyre of Jamaica, 



1S64-65] SECOXD VISIT HOME. 355 

he did not scruple to tell them how different an estimate 
he had formed of the Governor's conduct. 

We continue our extracts from his Journal and 
letters : — 

" 2-ith May. — Came down to Scotland by last night's train ; found 
mother very poorly ; and, being now eighty-two, I fear she may not 
have long to live among us." 

27 (h May (to Mr. Webb). — "I have been reading Tom Brown's 

' Days — a capital book. Dr. Arnold was a man worth his weight 

in something better than gold. You know Oswell " [his early friend] 

" was one of his Rugby boys. One could see his training in always 

doing what was brave, and true, and right." 

_ I June. — Tom better, but kept back in his education by his 
complaint. Oswell getting on well at school at Hamilton. Anna 
Mary well. Mother gradually becoming weaker. Robert we shall 
never hear of again in this world, I fear; but the Lord is merciful, and 
just, and right in all His ways. He would hear the cry for mercy in 
the hospital at Salisbury. I have lost my part in that gigantic 
Btruggle which the Highest guided to a consummation never contem- 
plated by the Southerners when they began; and many others have 
borne more numerous losses. 

" 5th June. — Went about a tombstone to my dear Mary. Got a 
good one of cast-iron to be sent out to the Cape. 

" Mother very low. . . . Has been a good affectionate mother to us 
all. The Lord be with her. . . . Whatever is good for me and mine 
the Lord will give. 

" To-morrow, Communion in kirk. The Lord strip off all imper- 
fections, wash away all guilt, breathe love and goodness through all 
my nature, and make His image shine out from my soul. 

Mother continued very low, and her mind ran on poor Robert. 
Thought I was his brother, and asked me frequently, ' Where is your 
brother 1 Where is that puir laddie 1' . . . Sisters most attentive. . . . 
Contrary to expectation she revived, and I went to Oxford. The 
Vice-Chancellor offered me the theatre to lecture in, but I expected a 
mi if any change took place on mother. Gave an address to a 
number of friends in Dr. Daubeny's chemical class-room." 

u Monday, 10th June. — A telegram came, saying that mother had 
died the day before. I started at once for Scotland. ,No change was 
observed till within an hour and a half of her departure. . . . Seeing 
the end was near, sister Agnes said, ' The Saviour has come for you, 
mother. You can "lippen" yourself to Him V She replied ' Oh yes.' 
Little Anna Mary was held up to her. She gave her the last look, 
and Baid ' Bonnie wee lassie,' gave a few long inspirations, and all was 
still, with a look of reverence on her countenance. She had wished 
William Logan, a good Christian man, to lay her head in the grave, 



356 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xvn. 

if I were not there. When going away in 1858, she said to me that 
she would have liked one of her laddies to lay her head in the grave. 
It so happened that I was there to pay the last tribute to a dear good 
mother." 

The last thing we find him doing in Scotland is 
attending the examination of Oswell's school, with Anna 
Mary, and seeing him receive prizes. Dr. Loudon of 
Hamilton, the medical attendant and much-valued friend of 
the Livingstones, furnishes us with a reminiscence of this 
occasion. He had great difficulty in persuading Living- 
stone to go. The awful bugbear was that he would be 
asked to make a speech. Being assured that it would be 
thought strange if, in a gathering of the children's parents, 
he were absent, he agreed to go. And of course he had 
to speak. What he said was pointed and' practical, and 
in winding up, he said he had just two things to say to 
them — " Fear God, and work hard/' These appear to 
have been Livingstone's last public words in his native 
Scotland. 

His Journal is continued in London : — 

" 8th August — Went to Zoological Gardens with Mr. Webb and 
Dr. Kirk; then to lunch with Miss Coutts" [Baroness Burdett Coutts]. 
" Queen Emma of Honolulu is to be there. It is not fair for High 
Church people to ignore the labours of the Americans, for [the present 
state of Christianity] is the fruit of their labours, and not of the 
present Bishop. Dined at Lady Franklin's with Queen Emma; a nice 
sensible person the Queen seems to be. 

" 9th August. — Parted with my friends Mr. and Mrs. Webb at 
King's Cross station to-day. He gracefully said that he wished I had 
been coming rather than going away, and she shook me very cordially 
with both hands, and said, ' You will come back again to us, won't 
jonV and shed a womanly tear. The good Lord bless and save them 
both, and have mercy on their whole household ! 

"11th August. — Went down to say good-bye to the Duchess- 
Dowager of Sutherland, at Maidenhead. Garibaldi's rooms are 
shown : a good man he was, but followed by a crowd of harpies 
who tried to use him for their own purposes. ... He was so utterly 
worn out by shaking hands, that a detective policeman who was 
with him in the carriage, put his hand under his cloak, and did the 
ceremony for him. 



1864-65.] SECOXD VISIT HOME. 357 

"Took leave at Foreign Office. Mr. Layard very kind in his 
expressions at parting, and so was Mr. YYylde. 

" 1 2th August. — Went down to Wimbledon to dine with Mr.Murra\ 
and take leave. Mr. and Mrs. Oswell came up to say farewell. He 
offers to go over to Paris at any time to bring Agnes" [who was going 
to school there] "home, or do anything that a father would. ["I love 
him," Livingstone writes to Mr. Webb, "with true affection, and I 
believe he does the same to me; and yet we never show it."] 

" We have been with Dr. and Mrs. Hamilton for some time — good, 
gracious people. The Lord bless them and heir household ! Dr. 
Kirk and Mr. Waller go down to Folkestone to-morrow, and take 
leave of us there. This is very kind. The Lord puts it into their 
hearts to show kindness, and blessed be His name." 

Dr. Livingstone's last weeks in England were passed 
under the roof of the late Rev. Dr. Hamilton, author of 
Life in Earnest, and could hardly have been passed in a 
more congenial home. Natives of the same part of 
Scotland, nearly of an age, and resembling each other 
much in taste and character, the two men drew greatly 

ach other. The same Puritan faith lay at the basis 
of their religious character, with all its stability and 
firmness. But above all, they had put on charity, which 
is the bond of perfectness. In Natural History, too, they 
had an equal enthusiasm. In Dr. Hamilton, Livingstone 
found what he missed in many orthodox men. On the 
evening of his last Sunday, he was prevailed on to give 
;m address in Dr. Hamilton's church, after having in the 
morning received the Communion with the congregation. 
In liis address he vindicated his character as a missionary, 
and declared that it was as much as ever his great object 
to proclaim the love of Christ, which they had been com- 
memorating that day. His prayers made a deep impres- 
sion ; they were like the communings of a child with his 
father. At the railway station, the last Scotch hands 
grasped by him were those of Dr. and Mrs. Hamilton. 
The news of Dr. Hamilton's death was received by Living- 

e a few years after, in the heart of Africa, with no small 
emotion. Their next meeting was in the better land. 



358 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap, xviii. 



CHAPTEE XVIII. 

FROM ENGLAND TO BOMBAY AND ZANZIBAR. 
A.D. 1865-1866. 

Object of new journey — Double scheme— He goes to Paris with Agnes— Baron 
Hausmann — Anecdote at Marseilles — He reaches Bombay — Letter to Agnes — 
Reminiscences of Dr Livingstone at Bombay by Rev. D. C. Boyd — by 
Alex. Brown, Esq. — Livingstone's dress — He visits the caves of Kenhari — 
Rumours of murder of Baron van der Decken — He delivers a lecture at Bombay 
— Great success — He sells the ' ' Lady Nyassa " — Letter to Mr. Young — Letter 
to Anna Mary — Hears that Dr. Kirk has got an appointment — Sets out for ' 
Zanzibar in " Thule " — Letter to Mr. Young — His experience at sea — Letter 
to Agnes — He reaches Zanzibar — Calls on Sultan — Presents the "Thule" to 
him from Bombay Government — Monotony of Zanzibar life — Leaves in 
" Penguin " for the continent. 

The object for which Dr. Livingstone set out on his 
third and last great African journey is thus stated in 
the preface to The Zambesi and its Tributaries : — " Our 
Government have supported the proposal of the Royal 
Geographical Society made by my friend Sir Roderick 
Murchison, and have united with that body to aid me in 
another attempt to open Africa to civilising influences, 
and a valued private friend has given a thousand pounds 
for the same object. I propose to go inland, north of the 
territory which the Portuguese in Europe claim, and 
endeavour to commence that system on the east which 
has been so eminently successful on the west coast : a 
system combining the repressive efforts of Her Majesty's 
cruisers with lawful trade and Christian missions — the 
moral and material results of which have been so grati- 
fying. I hope to ascend the Rovuma, or some other 



1865-66.] FROM ENGLAND TO ZANZIBAR. 359 

river north of Cape Delgado, and, in addition to my 
other work, shall strive, by passing along the northern 
end of Luke Nyassa, and round the southern end of Lake 
Tanganyika, to ascertain the watershed of that part of 
Africa.' 1 

The first part of the scheme was his own, the second 
lie had been urged to undertake by the Geographical 
Society. The sums in aid contributed by Government 
and the Geographical Society were only £500 each ; but • 
it was not thought that the work would occupy a long 
time. The Geographical Society coupled their contri- 
bution with some instructions as to observations and 
reports which seemed to Dr. Livingstone needlessly 
stringent, and which certainly ruffled his relation to the 
Society. The honorary position of Consul at large he was 
willing to accept for the sake of the influence which it 
gave him, though still retaining his opinion of the shab- 
biness which had so explicitly bargained that he was to 
have no salary and to expect no pension. 

The truth is, if Livingstone had not been the most 
single-minded and trustful of men, he would never have 
returned to Africa on such terms. The whole sum placed 
at his disposal was utterly inadequate to defray the cost 
<>f t lie Expedition, and support his family at home. Had 
it not been for promises that were never fulfilled, he would 
not have left his family at this time as he did. But in 
nothing is the purity of his character seen more beautifully 
than in his bearing towards some of those who had gained 
not a little consideration by their connection with him, 
and had made him fair promises, but left him to work on 
as best he might. No trace of bitter feeling disturbed 
him, or abated the strength of Ins love and confidence. 

Df. Livingstone went first to Paris with his daughter, 
and left her there for education. Passing on he reached 
Marseilles on the 19th August, and wrote her a few 
lines, in which he informed her that the man who was 



360 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap, xviii. 

now transforming Paris [Baron Hausmann] was a Pro- 
testant, and had once taught a Sunday-school in the 
south of France ; and that probably he had greater 
pleasure in the first than in the second work. The 
remark had a certain applicability to his own case, and 
probably let out a little of his own feeling ; it showed at 
least his estimate of the relative place of temporal and 
spiritual philanthropy. The prayer that followed was 
■ expressive of his deepest feelings towards his best- 
beloved on earth : " May the Almighty qualify you to be a 
blessing to those around you, wherever your lot is cast. 
I know that you hate all that is mean and false. May 
God make you good, and to delight in doing good to 
others. If you ask He will give abundantly. The Lord 
bless you ! " 

From a Bombay gentleman who was his fellow- 
traveller to India a little anecdote has casually come 
to our knowledge illustrating the unobtrusiveness of 
Livingstone — his dislike to being made a lion of. At 
the table-dliote of the hotel in Marseilles, where some 
Bombay merchants were sitting, the conversation turned 
on Africa in connection with ivory — an extensive article 
of trade in Bombay. One friend dropped the remark, " I 
wonder where that old chap Livingstone is now." To 
his surprise and discomfiture, a voice replied, "Here he 
is." They were fast friends all through the voyage that 
followed. Little of much interest happened during that 
voyage. Livingstone writes that Palgrave was in Cairo 
when he passed through, but he did not see him. Of 
Baker he could hear nothing. Miss Tinne, the Dutch lady, 
of whom he thought highly as a traveller, had not been 
very satisfactory to the religious part of the English com- 
munity at Cairo. Miss Whately was going home for 
six weeks, but was to be back to her Egyptian Bagged 
School. He saw the end of the Lesseps canal, about 
the partial opening of which they were making a great 



1865-66.] FROM ESGLAXD TO ZANZIBAR. 361 

noise. Many thought it would succeed, though an 
Egyptian Commodore had said to him, "It is hombog." 
The Red Sea was fearfully hot and steamy. The "Lady 
Xvassa " hung like a millstone round his neck, and he 
was prepared to sell her for whatever she might bring. 
Bombay was reached on 11th September. 

TO AGNES LIVINGSTONE. 

"Bombay, 20th Sept. 1865.— . . . By advice of the Governor I 
went up to Nassick to see if the Africans there under Government 
instruction would suit my purpose as members of the Expedition. I 
was present at the examination of a large school under Mr. Price by 
the Bishop of Bombay. It is partly supported by Government. The 
pupils (108) are not exclusively African, but all showed very great 
proficiency. They excelled in music. I found some of the Africans 
to have come from parts I know — one from Ndonde on the Rovuma 
— and all had learned some handicraft, besides reading, writing, etc., 
and it is probable that some of them will go back to their own 
country with me. Eight have since volunteered to go. Besides these 
I am to get some men from the ' Marine Battalion,' who have been 
accustomed to rough it in various ways, and their pensions will be 
given to their widows if they should die. The Governor (Sir Bartle 
Frere) is going to do what he can for my success. 

" After going back to Bombay I came up to near Poonah, and am 
now at Government House, the guest of the Governor. 

" Society here consists mainly of officers and their wives. . . . 
Mi-- Frere, in the absence of Lady Frere, does the honours of the 
establishment, and very nicely she does it. She is very clever, and 
quite unaffected- very like her father. . . . 

•• I Ihristianity is gradually diffusing itself, leavening as it were in 
various ways the* whole mass. When a man becomes a professor of 
Christianity, lie is at present cast out, abandoned by all his relations, 
even by wife and children. This state of things makes some Avho 
don't care about Christian progress say that all Christian servants are 
They are degraded by their own countrymen, and despised 
by others, but time will work changes. Mr. Maine, who came out 
here with us, intends to introduce a law whereby a convert deserted by 
his wit- may many again. It is in accordance with tin; text in 
Corinthians — If an unbelieving wife depart, let her depart. People will 
gradually show more sympathy with the poor fellows who come out of 
heathenism, and discriminate between the worthy and unworthy. You 
should read Lady Duff Gordon's Letters from Egypt. They show a 
nice sympathising heart, and are otherwise very interesting. She saw 
the people as they an-. Most pe >ple see only the outsides of things. 
. . . Avoid all nasty French novels. They are very injurious, and 



362 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xvm. 

effect a lasting injury on the mind and heart. X go up to Government 
House again three days hence, and am to* deliver two lectures, — one at 
Poonah, and one at Bombay." , 

Some slight reminiscences of Livingstone at Bombay, 
derived from admiring countrymen of his own, will not 
be out of place, considering that the three or four months 
spent there was the last period of his life jDassed in any 
part of the dominions of Great Britain. 

The Rev. Dugald C. Boyd of Bombay (now of Portsoy, 
Banffshire), an intimate friend of Dr. Stewart of Lovedale, 
writing to a correspondent on 10th October 1865, says :— 

" Yesterday evening I had the pleasure of meeting Livingstone at 
dinner in a very quiet way. ... It was an exceedingly pleasant 
evening. Dr. Wilson was in great ' fig,' and Livingstone was, though 
quiet, very communicative, and greatly disposed to talk about Africa. 
... I had known Mrs. Livingstone, and I had known Robert and 
Agnes, his son and daughter, and I had known Stewart. He spoke 
very kindly of Stewart, and seems to hope that he may yet join him in 
Central Africa. . . . He is much stouter, better and healthier-looking 
than he was last year. . . . 

"12th October. — Livingstone was at the tamasha yesterday. He 
was dressed very unlike a minister — more like a post-captain or 
admiral. He wore a blue dress-coat, trimmed with lace, and bearing 
a Government gilt button. In his hand he carried a cocked hat. At 
the Communion on Sunday (he sat on Dr. Wilson's right hand, who 
sat on my right) he wore a blue surtout, with Government gilt buttons, 
and shepherd-tartan trousers ; . and he had a gold band round his cap. 1 

1 Dr. Livingstone's habit of dressing as a layman, and accepting the designation 
of David Livingstone, Esquire, as readily as that of the Eev. Dr. Livingstone, 
probably helped to propagate the idea that he had sunk the missionary in the 
explorer. The truth, however, is, that from the first he wished to be a lay mis- 
sionary, not under any Society, and it was only at the instigation of his friends 
that he accepted ordination. He had an intense dislike of what was merely pro- 
fessional and conventional, and he thought that as a free-lance he would have more 
influence. Whether in this he sufficiently appreciated the position and office of 
one set aside by the Church for the service of the gospel may be a question : but 
there can be no question that he had the same view of the matter from first to last. 
He would have worn a blue dress and gilt buttons, if it had been suitable, as 
readily as any other, at the most ardent period of his missionary life. His heart 
was as truly that of a missionary under the Consul's dress as it had ever been when 
he wore black, or whatever else he could get, in the wilds of Africa. At the time 
of his encounter with the lion he wore a coat of tartan, and he thought that that 
material might have had some effect in preventing the usual irritating results of 
a lion's bite. 



1865-66.] FROM ENGLAND TO ZANZIBAR. 363 

I spent two hours in his society last evening at Dr. Wilson's. Ho was 
not very complimentary to Burton. He is to lecture in public this 
evening." 

Another friend, Mr. Alexander Brown, now of Liver- 
pool, sends a brief note of a very delightful excursion 
given by him, in honour of Livingstone, to the caves of 
Kennery or Kenhari, in the island of Salsette. There 
was a pretty large party. After leaving the railway 
station, they rode on ponies to the caves. 

u "We spent a most charming day in the caves, and the wild jungle 
around them. Dr. Wilson, you may believe, was in his element, 
pouring forth volumes of Oriental lore in connection with the Buddhist 
faith and the Kenhari caves, which are among the most striking and 
interesting monuments of it in India. They are of great extent, and 
the main temple is in good preservation. Doctor Livingstone's 
almost boyish enjoyment of the whole thing impressed me greatly. 
The stern, almost impassive, man seemed to unbend, and enter most 
thoroughly into the spirit of a day in which pleasure and instruc- 
tion, under circumstances of no little interest, were so delightfully 
combined." 

At Bombay, he heard disquieting tidings of the 
Hanoverian traveller, Baron van der Decken. In his 
Journal he says : — 

"20th December 1865. — The expedition of the Baron van der 
Decken has met with a disaster up the Juba. He had gone up 300 
miles, and met only with the loss of his steam launch. He then ran 

iteamer on two rocks and made two large holes in her bottom. 
The Baron and Dr. Link got out in order to go to the chief to 
conciliate him. He had been led to suspect war. Then a large 
party came and attacked them, killing the artist Trenn and the chief 
engineer. They were beaten off, and Lieutenant von Schift with four 
survivors left in the boat, and in four days came down the stream. 
Thence they came in a dhow to Zanzibar. It is feared that the Baron 
may he murdered, but possibly not. It looks ill that the attack was 
made after lie landed. 

"My times are in Thy hand, Lord ! Go Thou with me and T am 
safe. And above all, make me useful in promoting Thy cause of peace 
and good-will among men." 

The rumour of the Baron's death was subsequently 
confirmed. His mode of treating the natives was the 
very opposite of Livingstone's, who regarded the manner 



364 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xvm. 

of his death as another proof that it was not safe to 
disregard the manhood of the African people. 

The Bombay lecture was a great success. Dr. 
Wilson, Free Church Missionary, was in the chair, and 
after the lecture tried to rouse the Bombay merchants, 
and especially the Scotch ones, to help the enterprise. 
Beferring to the driblets that had been contributed by 
Government and the Geographical Society, he proposed 
that in Bombay they should raise as much as both. In 
his next letter to his daughter, Livingstone tells of the 
success of the lecture, of the subscription, which promised 
to amount to £1000 (it did not quite do so), and of his 
wish that the Bombay merchants should use the money 
for setting up a trading establishment in Africa. " I 
must first of all find a suitable spot ; then send back 
here to let it be known. I shall then 'be off in my 
work for the Geographical Society, and when that is 
done, if I am well, I shall come back to the first station." 
He goes on to speak of the facilities he had received 
for transporting Indian buffaloes and other animals to 
Africa, and of the extraordinary kindness and interest 
of Sir Bar tie Frere, and the pains he had taken to 
commend him to the good graces of the Sultan of 
Zanzibar, then in Bombay. He speaks pleasantly of 
his sojourn with Dr. Wilson and other friends. He is 
particularly pleased with the management and menu of a 
house kept by four bachelors — and then he adds : " Your 
mamma was an excellent manager of the house, and made 
everything comfortable. I suppose it is the habit ot 
attending t,o little things that makes such a difference in 
different houses. As I am to be away from all luxury 
soon, I may as well live comfortably with the bachelors 
while I can." 

To Mr. James Young he writes about the "Lady 
Nyassa," which he had sold, after several advertisements, 
but only for £2300 : " The whole of the money given for 



1865-C6.] FROM ENGLAND TO ZANZIBAR. 365 

her I dedicated to the great object for which she was 
built. I am satisfied at having made the effort ; would 
of course have preferred to have succeeded, but we are 
not responsible for results." In reference to the invest- 
ment of the money, it was intended ultimately to be sunk 
in Government or railway securities ; but meanwhile, he 
had been recommended to invest it in shares of an Indian 
bank. Most unfortunately, the bank failed a year or two 
afterwards ; and thus the whole of the £6000, which 
the vessel had cost Livingstone, vanished into air. 

His little daughter Anna Mary had a good share of 
Iris attention at Bombay : — 

a 24/// December 1S65. — I went last niglit to take tea in the house 
of a Hindoo gentleman who is not a professed Christian. It was a 
great matter for such to eat with men not of his caste. Most Hindoos 
would shrink with horror from contact with us. Seven little girls 
were present, belonging to two Hindoo families. They were from four 
or five to eight years old. They were very pleasant-looking, of olive 
complexions. Their hair was tied in a knot behind, with a wreath of 
flowers round the knot ; they had large gold ear-rings and European 
dresses. One played very nicely on the piano, while the rest sang 
very nicely a funny song, which shows the native way of thinking, 
about some of our customs. They sang some nice hymns, and repeated 
some pieces, as the ' Wreck of the Hesperus,' which was given at the 
examination of Oswell's school. Then all sung, 'There is a happy 
land, far, far away,' and it, with some of the Christian hymns, was 
beautiful. They speak English perfectly, but with a little foreign 
twang. All joined in a metrical prayer before retiring. They have 
been taught all by their father, and it was very pleasant to see that 
this teaching had brought out their natural cheerfulness. Native 
children don't look lively, but these were brimful of fun. One not 
quite as tall as yourself brought a child's book to me, and with great 
glee pointed out myself under the lion. She can read fluently, as I 
suppose you can by this time now. I said that I would like a little 
girl like her to go with me to Africa to sing these pretty hymns to me 
there. She said she would like to go, but should not like to have a 
black husband. This is Christmas season, and to-morrow is held as 
the day in which our Lord was born, an event which angels made 
known to men, and it brought great joy, and proclaimed peace on 
earth and good-will to men. That Saviour must be your friend, and 
He will be if you ask Him so to be. He will forgive and save you, 
and take you into His family." 



366 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap, xviii. 

On New Year's Day 1866 he writes in his Journal: — 
" The Governor told me that he had much pleasure in 
giving Dr. Kirk an appointment ; he would telegraph to 
him to-day. It is to be at Zanzibar, where he will be of 
great use in promoting all good works." 

It had been arranged that Dr. Livingstone was to 
cross to Zanzibar in the "Thule," a steamer that had 
formed part of the squadron of Captain Sherard Osborn 
in China, and which Livingstone had now the honour of 
being commissioned to present to the Sultan of Zanzibar, 
as a present from Sir Bartle Frere, and the Bombay 
Government. 

We give a few extracts from his journal at sea : — 

" 17 th January. — Issued flannel to all the boys from Nassick ; the 
marines have theirs from Government. The boys sing a couple of 
hymns every evening, and repeat the Lord's Prayer. I mean to keep 
up this, and make this a Christian expedition, telling a little about 
Christ wherever we go. His love in coming down to save men will 
be our theme. I dislike very much to make my religion distasteful to 

others. This, with 's hypocritical ostentation, made me have fewer 

religious services on the Zambesi than would have been desirable, per- 
haps. He made religion itself distasteful by excessive ostentation. . . . 
Good works gain the approbation of the world, and though there is 
antipathy in the human heart to the gospel of Christ, yet when 
Christians make their good works shine all admire them. It is when 
great disparity exists between profession and practice that we secure 
the scorn of mankind. The Lord help me to act in all cases in this 
Expedition as a Christian ought ! 

" 23d January. — My second book has been reviewed very favour- 
ably by the Athenaeum and the Saturday Review, and by many news- 
papers. Old John Crawford gives a snarl in the Examiner, but I can 
afford that it should be so. 4800 copies were sold on first night of 
Mr. Murray's sale. It is rather a handsome volume. I hope it may do 
some good." 

In a letter to Mr. James Young he writes of his 
voyage, and discharges a characteristic spurt of humour 
at a mutual Edinburgh acquaintance who had mistaken 
an order about a magic lantern : — ' 

"At sea, 300 miles from Zanzibar, 26th January 1866. — We have 
enjoyed fair weather in coming across the weary waste of waters. 



1S65-66.] FROM ENGLAND TO ZANZIBAR. 367 

AVe started on the 5th, The c Thule,' to be a pleasure yacht, is the 
most incorrigible roller ever known. The whole 2000 miles has 
been an everlasting see-saw. shuggy-shoo, and enough to tire the 
patience of even a chemist, who is the most patient of all animals. I 
am pretty well gifted in that respect myself, though I say it that 

shouldn't say it, bat that Sandy B ! The world will never get 

on till Ave have a few of those instrument-makers hung. I was par- 
ticular in asking him to get me Scripture slides coloured, and put in 
with the magic lantern, and he has not put in one! The very object 
for which I wanted it is thus frustrated, and I did not open it till we 
were at sea. Sandy ! Pity Burke and Hare have no successors in 
Auld Reekie ! . . . 

" You will hear that I have the prospect of Kirk being out here. 
I am very glad of it, as I am sure his services will be found invaluable 
on the east coast." 

To his daughter Agnes he writes, it jwopos of the 
rolling of the ship : — 

"Most of the marine-sepoys were sick. You would have been a 
victim unless you had tried the new remedy of a bag of pounded ice 
along the spine, which sounds as hopeful as the old cure for toothache : 
take a mouthful of cold water, and sit on the fire till it boils, you 

will suffer no more from toothache A shark took a bite at the 

revolving vane of the patent log to-day. He left some pieces of the 
enamel of his teeth in the brass, and probably has the toothache. 
You will sympathise with him. ... If you ask Mr. Murray to send, 
by Mr. Conyngham, Buckland's Curiosities of Natural History, and 
Mr. Gladstone's Address to the Edinburgh Students, it will save me 
writing to him. "When you return home you will be scrutinised to 
see if you are spoiled. You have only to act naturally and kindly to 
all your old friends to disarm them of their prejudices. I think you 
will find the Youngs true friends. Mrs. AVilliamson of "Widdicombc 
Hill near Bath writes to me that she would like to show you her plans 
for the benefit of poor orphans. If you thought of going to Bath it 
might be well to get all the insight you could into that and every 
other good work, it is well to be able to take a comprehensive view 
of all benevolent enterprises, and resolve to do our duty in life in 
Borne May or other, for we cannot live for ourselves alone. A life of 
selfishness is one of misery, and it is unlike that of our blessed Saviour, 
who pleased not Himself. He followed not His own will even, but 
tli*- will of His Father in heaven. I have read with much pleasure a 
book called Rose Douglas. It is the life of a minister's daughter — with 
fictitious Dames, but all true. She was near Lanark, and came through 
Hamilton. You had better lead it if you come in contact with it." 

Referring to an alarm, arising from the next house 



$6S DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap, xviii. 

having taken fire, of which she had written him," he adds 
playfully :— 

" You did not mention what you considered most precious on the 
night of the fire ; so I dreamed that I saw one young lady hugging a 
German grammar to her bosom ; another with a pair of curling 
tongs, a tooth-pick and a pinafore ; another with a bunch of used-up 
postage stamps and autographs in a crinoline turned upside down, 
and a fourth lifted up Madame Hocede and insisted on carrying her 
as her most precious baggage. Her name, which I did not catch, will 
go down to posterity alongside of the ladies who each carried out her 
husband from the besieged city, and took care never to let him hear 
the last on't afterwards. I am so penetrated with admiration of her 
that I enclose the wing of a flying-fish for her. It lighted among us 
last night, while we were at dinner, coming right through the sky- 
light. You will make use of this fact in the high-flying speech which 
you will deliver to her in French." 

Zanzibar is at length reached on the 28th January, 
after a voyage of twenty- three days, tedious enough, 
though but half the length of the cruise in the " Nyassa " 
two years before. To Agnes : — 

" 29th Jan. — We went to call to-day on the Sultan. His Highness 
met us at the bottom of the stair, and as he shook hands a brass band, 
which he got at Bombay, blared forth ' God save the Queen ! ' This 
was excessively ridiculous, but I maintained sufficient official gravity. 
After coffee and sherbet we came away, and the wretched band now 
struck up ' The British Grenadier,' as if the fact of my being only 
5 feet 8, and Brebner about 2 inches lower, ought not to have 
suggested ' Wee Willie Winkie ' as more appropriate. I was ready to 
explode, but got out of sight before giving way." 

Dr. Livingstone brought a very cordial recommenda- 
tion to the Sultan from Sir Bar tie Frere, and experienced 
much kindness at his hand. Being ill with toothache, 
the Sultan could not receive the gift of the " Thule " in 
person, and it was presented through his commodore. 

Livingstone was detained in Zanzibar nearly two 
months waiting for H.M.S. " Penguin," which was to 
convey him to the mouth of the Rovuma. Zanzibar life 
was very monotonous — " It is the old, old way of living 
— eating, drinking, sleeping ; sleeping, drinking, eating. 
Getting fat ; slaving-dhows coming and slaving-dhows 



1865-66.] FROM ENGLAND TO ZANZIBAR. 369 

going away j bad smells; and kindly looks from English 
folks to each other." The sight of slaves in the Zanzibar 
market, and the recognition of some who had been brought 
from Nyassa, did not enliven his visit, though it un- 
doubtedly confirmed his purpose and quickened his efforts 
to aim another blow at the accursed trade. Always 
thinking of what would benefit Africa, he writes to Sir 
Thomas Maclear urging very strongly the starting of a 
line of steamers between the Cape, Zanzibar, and Bombay : 
' ; It would be a most profitable one, and would do great 
good, besides, in eating out the trade in slaves." 

At last the " Penguin " came for him, and once more, 
and for the last time, Livingstone left for the Dark Con- 
tinent. 



>2 A 



37o DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xix. 



CHAPTEE XIX. 

FROM ZANZIBAR TO UJIJI. 

A.D. 1866-1869. 

Dr. Livingstone goes to mouth of Rovuma — His prayer — His company — His herd 
of animals — Loss of his buffaloes — Good spirits when setting out — Difficulties 
at Rovuma — Bad conduct of Johanna men — Dismissal of his Sepoys — Fresh 
horrors of slave-trade — Uninhabited tract — He reaches Lake Nyassa — Letter 
to his son Thomas — Disappointed hopes — His double aim, to teach natives 
and rouse horror of slave-trade — Tenor of religious addresses — Wikatami 
remains behind — Livingstone finds no altogether satisfactory station for com- 
merce and missions — Question of the watershed — Was it worth the trouble? — 
Overruled for good to Africa — Opinion of Sir Bartle Frere — At Marenga's — The 
Johanna men leave in a body — Circulate rumour of his murder — Sir Roderick 
disbelieves it — Mr. E. D. Young sent out with Search Expedition — Finds 
proof against rumour — Livingstone half-starved — Loss of his goats — Review 
of 1866 — Reflections on Divine Providence — Letter to Thomas— His dog 
drowned — Loss of his medicine-chest — He feels sentence of death passed on 
him — First sight of Lake Tanganyika — Detained at Chitimba's — Discovery of 
Lake Moero — Occupations during detention of 1867 — Great privations and 
difficulties — Illness — Rebellion among his men — Discovery of Lake Bangweolo 
— Its oozy banks — Detention — Sufferings — He makes for Ujiji — Very severe 
illness in beginning of 1869 — Reaches Ujiji — Finds his goods have been 
wasted and stolen — Most bitter disappointment — His medicines, etc., at 
Unyanyembe — Letter to Sultan of Zanzibar — Letters to Dr. Moffat and his 
daughter. 

On the 19 th of March, fortified by a firman from the 
Sultan to all his people, and praying the Most High to 
prosper him, "by granting him influence in the eyes of 
the heathen, and blessing his intercourse with them," 
Livingstone left Zanzibar in H.M.S. "Penguin" for the 
mouth of the Rovuma. His company consisted of 
thirteen Sepoys, ten Johanna men, nine Nassick boys, 
two Shupanga men, and two Waiyau. Musa, one of the 
Johanna men, had been a sailor in the "Lady Nyassa;" 
Susi and Amoda, the Shupanga men, had been wood- 



1866-69.] FROM ZANZIBAR TO UJIJI. 371 

cutters for the "Pioneer;" and the two Waiyau lads, 
Wikatani and Chuma, had been among the slaves rescued 
in 1861, and had lived for some time at the mission station 
at Chibisa's. Besides these, he carried with him a sort of 
menagerie in a dhow — six camels, three buffaloes and 
a calf, two mules, and four donkeys. What man but 
Dr. Livingstone would have encumbered himself with 
such baggage, and for what conceivable purpose except 
the benefit of Africa ? The tame buffaloes of India were 
taken that he might try whether, like the wild buffaloes 
of Africa, they would resist the bite of the tsetse-fly ; 
the other animals for the same purpose. There were 
two words of which Livingstone might have said, as 
Queen Mary said of Calais, that at his death they would 
be found engraven on his heart — fever and tsetse; the 
one the great scourge of man, the other of beast, in South 
Africa. To help to counteract two such foes to African 
civilisation no trouble or expense would have been 
judged too great. Already he had lost nine of his 
buffaloes at Zanzibar. It was a sad pity that owing to 
the ill treatment of the remaining animals by his people, 
who turned out a poor lot, it could never be known con- 
clusively whether the tsetse-bite was fatal to them or not. 
In spite of all he had suffered in Africa, and though 
he was without the company of a single European, he 
had, in setting out, something of the exhilarating feeling 
of a young traveller starting on his first tour in Switzer- 
land, deepened by the sense of nobility which there is 
in every endeavour to do good to others. " The mere 
animal pleasure of travelling in a wild unexplored country 
is very great. . . . The sweat of one's brow is no 
longer a curse when one works for God ; it proves a tonic 
to the system, and is actually a blessing." The liovuma 
was found to have changed greatly since his last visit, so 
that he had to land his goods twenty-five miles to the 
north at Mikindany harbour, and find his way down to 



372 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xix. 

the river farther up. The toil was fitted to wear out the 
strongest of his men. Nothing could have been more 
grateful than the Sunday rest. Through his Nassick 
boys, he tried to teach the Makonde — a tribe that bore a 
very bad character, but failed ; however, the people were 
wonderfully civil, and, contrary to all previous usage, 
neither inflicted fines nor made complaints, though the 
animals had done some damage to their corn. He set 
this down as an answer to his prayers for influence among 
the heathen. 

His vexations, however, were not long of beginning. 
Both the Sepoy marines and the Nassick boys were 
extremely troublesome, and treated the animals abomin- 
ably. The Johanna men were thieves. The Sepoys 
became so intolerable that after four months' trial he 
sent most of them back to the coast. It required an 
effort to resist the effect of such things, owing to the 
tendency of the mind to brood over the ills of travel. 
The natives were not unkindly, but food was very scarce. 
As they advanced, the horrors of the slave-trade pre- 
sented themselves in all their hideous aspects. Women 
were found dead, tied to trees, or lying in the path shot 
and stabbed, their fault having been inability to keep up 
with the party, while their amiable owners, to prevent 
them from becoming the property of any one else, put an 
end to their lives. In some instances the captives, yet 
in the slave-sticks, were found not quite dead. Brutality 
was sometimes seen in another form, as when some 
natives laughed at a poor boy suffering from a very 
awkward form of hernia, whose mother was trying to 
bind up the part. The slave-trade utterly demoralised 
the people ; the Arabs bought whoever was brought to 
them, and the great extent of forest in the country 
favoured kidnapping ; otherwise the people were honest. 
Farther on they passed through an immense uninhabited 
tract, that had once evidently had a vast population. 



1866-69.] FROM ZANZIBAR TO UJ1JL 373 

Then, in the Waiyau country, west of Mataka's, came a 
splendid district 3400 feet above the sea, as well adapted 
for a settlement as Magomero, but it had taken them 
four months to get at it, while Magomero was reached in 
three weeks. The abandonment of that mission he would 
never cease to regret. As they neared Lake Nyassa, 
slave parties became more common. On the 8th August 
186(5 they reached the lake, which seemed to Livingstone 
like an old familiar friend which he never expected to see 
ajxain. He thanked God. bathed again in the delicious 
water, and felt quite exhilarated. 

Writing to his son Thomas, 28th August, he says : — 

" The Sepoys were morally unfit for travel, and then we had hard 
line-, all of us. Food was not to be had for love or money. Our 
(nest cloths only brought miserable morsels of the common grain. 
I trudged it the whole way, and having no animal food save what 
turtle-doves and guinea-fowls Ave occasionally shot, I became like one 
of Pharaoh's lean kine. The last tramp [to Nyassa] brought us to a 
land of plenty. It was over a very fine country, but quite depopulated. 
. . . The principal chief, named Mataka, lives on the watershed over- 
hanging this, but fifty miles or more distant from this; his town con- 
tained a thousand houses — many of them square, in imitation of the 
Arabs. Large patches of English peas in full bearing grew in the 
moist hollows, or were irrigated. Cattle showed that no tsetse existed. 
When we arrived, Mataka was just sending back a number of cattle 
and captives to their own homes. They had been taken by his people 
without his knowledge from Nyassa. I saw them by accident : there 
were fifty-four women and children, about a dozen young men and 
and about twenty-five or thirty head of cattle. As the act was 
spontaneous, it was the more gratifying to witness. . . . 

"I sometimes remember you with some anxiety, as not knowing 
what opening may be made for you in life. . . . Whatever you feel 
yourself best fitted for, "commit thy way to the Lord, trust also in 
Him. and He will bring it to pass.' One. ought to endeavour to devote 
thr peculiarities of his nature to his Redeemer's service, whatever 
these may be." 

ting at the lake, and working up journal, lunars, 

and altitudes, he hears of the arrival of an Englishman at 

Mataka's, with cattle for him, " who had two eyes behind 

11 as two in front — news enough for a while." Zoology, 

Botany, and Geology engage his attention as usual. He 



374 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xix. 

tries to get across the lake, but cannot, as the slavers 
own all the dhows, and will neither lend nor sell to him ; 
he has therefore to creep on foot round its southern end. 
Marks of destruction and desolation again shock the eye 
— skulls and bones everywhere. At the point where the 
Shire leaves Nyassa, he could not but think of disap- 
pointed hopes — the death of his dear wife, and of the 
Bishop, the increasing vigour of the slave-trade, and the 
abandonment of the Universities Mission. But faith 
assured him of good times coming, though he might not 
live to see them. Would only he had seen through the 
vista of the next ten years ! Bishop Tozer done with 
Africa, and Bishop Steere returning to the old neigh- 
bourhood, and resuming the old work of the Universities 
Mission ; and his own countrymen planting his name on 
the promontory on which he gazed so sorrowfully, train- 
ing the poor natives in the arts of civilisation, rearing 
Christian households among them, and proclaiming the 
blessed Gospel of the God of love ! 

Invariably as he goes along, Dr. Livingstone aims at 
two things : at teaching some of the great truths of Chris- 
tianity, and rousing consciences on the atrocious guilt of 
the slave-trade. In connection with the former he dis- 
covers that his usual way of conducting divine service — 
by the reading of prayers — does not give ignorant persons 
any idea of an unseen Being ; kneeling and praying with 
the eyes shut is better. At the foot of the lake he goes 
out of his way to remonstrate with Mukate, one of the 
chief marauders of the district. The tenor of his addresses 
is in some degree shaped by the practices he finds so 
prevalent : — 

" We mention our relationship to our Father, the guilt 
of selling any of His children, the consequences : — e.g. it 
begets war, for as they don't like to sell their own, they 
steal from other villagers, who retaliate. Arabs and 
Waiyau, invited into the country by their selling, foster 



1866-69.] FROM ZANZIBAR TO UJIJL 375 

feuds, — wars and depopulation ensue. We mention the 
Bible — future state — prayer ; advise union, that they 
would unite as one family to expel enemies, who came 
first as slave-traders, and ended by leaving the country a 
wilderness." 

It was about this time that Wikatani, one of the 
two Waiyau boys who had been rescued from slavery, 
finding, as he believed or said, some brothers and sisters 
on the western shore of the lake, left Livingstone and 
remained with them. There had been an impression in 
some quarters that, according to his wont, Livingstone 
had made him his slave ; to show the contrary, he gave 
him his choice of remaining or going, and, when the boy 
chose to remain, he acquiesced. 

Dr. Livingstone had ere now passed over the ground 
where, if anywhere, he might have hoped to find a station 
for a commercial and missionary settlement, independent 
of the Portuguese. In this hope he was rather disap- 
pointed. The only spot he refers to is the district west 
of Mataka's, which, however, was so difficult of access. 
Nearer the coast a mission might be established, and to 
this project his mind turned afterwards ; but it would 
not command the Nyassa district. On the whole he pre- 
ferred the Zambesi and Shire* valley, with all their diffi- 
culties. But the liovuma was not hopeless, and indeed, 
within the last few years, the Universities Mission has 
occupied the district successfully. 

The geographical question of the watershed had now 
to be grappled with. It is natural to ask whether this 
question was of sufficient importance to engage his main 
energies, and justify the incalculable sacrifices under- 
gone by him during the remaining six years of his life. 
First of all, we must remember, it was not his own scheme 
— it was pressed on him by Sir Roderick Murchison and 
the Geographical Society; and it may perhaps be doubted 
whether, bad he foreseen the cost of the enterprise, he 



376 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xix. 

would have deemed the object worthy of the price. But 
ever and anon, he seemed to be close on what he was 
searching for, and certain to secure it by just a little 
further effort ; while as often, like the cup of Tantalus, it 
was snatched from his grasp. Moreover, during a life- 
time of splendid self-discipline, he had been training him- 
self to keep his promises, and to complete his tasks; 
nor could he in any way see it his duty to break the one 
or leave the other unfinished. He had undertaken to 
the Geographical Society to solve that problem, and he 
would do it if it could be done. Wherever he went he 
had always some opportunity to make known the father- 
hood of God and His love in Christ, although the seed 
he sowed seemed seldom to take root. Then he was 
gathering fresh information on the state of the country 
and the habits of the people. He was especially gather- 
ing information on the accursed slave-trade. 

This question of the watershed, too, had fascinated 
his mind, for he had a strong impression that the real 
sources of the Nile were far higher than any previous 
traveller had supposed — far higher than Lake Victoria 
Nyanza, and that it would be a service to religion as well 
as science, to discover the fountains of the stream on whose 
bosom, in the dawn of Hebrew history, Moses had floated 
in his ark of bulrushes. A strong impression lurked in 
his mind that if he should only solve that old problem he 
would acquire such influence that new weight would be 
given to his pleadings for Africa ; just as, at the begin- 
ning of his career, he had wished for a commanding style 
of composition, to be able to rouse the attention of the 
world to that ill-treated continent. 

He was strongly disposed to think that in the account 
of the sources given to Herodotus by the Registrar of 
Minerva in the temple of Sais, that individual was not 
joking, as the father of history supposed. He thought 
that in the watershed the two conical hills, Crophi and 



1S66-69.] FROM ZANZIBAR TO UJIJL 377 

Mophi, might be found, and the fountains between them 
which it was impossible to fathom ; and that it might be 
seen that from that region there was a river flowing 
north to Egypt, and another flowing south to a country 
that might have been called Ethiopia. But whatever 
might be his views or aims, it was ordained that in the 
wanderings of his last years he should bring within the 
sympathies of the Christian world many a poor tribe other- 
Avise unknown; that he should witness sights, surpassing 
all he had ever seen before of the inhumanity and horrors 
of the slave -traffic — sights that harrowed his inmost soul; 
and that when his final appeal to his countrymen on be- 
half of its victims came, not from his living voice but 
from his tomb, it should gather from a thousand touching 
associations a thrilling power that would rouse the world, 
and finally root out the accursed thing. 

A very valuable testimony was borne by Sir Bartle 
Frere to the real aims of Livingstone, and the value 
of his work, especially in this last journey, hi a speech 
delivered in the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, 10th. 
November 1876 :— 

" The object," lie said, "of Dr. Livingstone's geographical and 
scientific explorations was to lead his countrymen to the great work of 
christianising and civilising the millions of Central Africa. You will 
recollect how when first he came hack from his wonderful journey, 
though we were all greatly startled by his achievements and by what 
h<- t"ld us. people really did not lay what he said much to heart. They 
were stimulated to take up the cause of African discovery again, and 
other travellers went out and did excellent service; but the great fact 
which was from the very first upon Livingstone's mind, and which he 
used to impress upon you, did not make the impression he wished, and 
although a good many people took more and more interest in the 
civilisation of Africa and in the abolition of the slave-trade, which he 
pointed out was the great obstacle to all progress, still it did not come 
home to tin; people generally. It was not until his third ami last 
journey, when he was no more to return among us, that the descrip- 
tions which he gave of the horrors of the slave-trade in the interior 
really took hold upon the mind of the people of this country, and made 
them determine that what used to be considered the crotchet of a few 
religious minds and humanitarian sort of persons, should be a phase 



378 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xix. 

of the great work which this country had undertaken, to free the 
African races, and to abolish, in the first place, the slave-trade by 
sea, and then, as we hope, the slaving by land." 

In September an Arab slaver was met at Marenga's, 
who told Musa, one of the Johanna men, that all 
the country in front was full of Mazitu, a warlike 
tribe ; that forty-four Arabs and their followers had 
been killed by them at Kasunga, and that he only 
had escaped. Musa's heart was filled with consternation. 
It was in vain that Marenga assured him that there were 
no Mazitu in the direction in which he was going, and 
that Livingstone protested to him that he would give 
them a wide berth. The Johanna men wanted an excuse 
for going back, but in such a way that, when they reached 
Zanzibar, they should get their pay. They left him in a 
body, and when they got to Zanzibar, circulated a circum- 
stantial report that he had been murdered. In December 
1866, Musa appeared at Zanzibar, and told how Living- 
stone had 'crossed Lake Nyassa to its western or north- 
western shore, and was pushing on west or north-west, 
when, between Marenga and Maklisoora, a band of savages 
stopped the way, and rushed on him and his small band 
of followers, now reduced to twenty. Livingstone fired 
twice, and killed two ; but, in the act of reloading, three 
Mafite leapt upon him through the smoke, one of them 
felled him with an axe-cut from behind, and the blow 
nearly severed his head from his body. The Johanna 
men fled into the thick jungle, and miraculously escaped. 
Eeturning to the scene of the tragedy, they found the 
body of their master, and in a shallow grave dug with 
some stakes, they committed his remains to the ground. 
Many details were given regarding the Sepoys, and 
regarding the after fortunes of Musa and his companions. 
Under cross-examination Musa stood firmly to his story, 
which was believed both by Dr. Seward and Dr. Kirk of 
Zanzibar. But when the tidings reached England, doubt 



1866-69.] FROM ZAXZIBAR TO UJIJL 379 

was thrown on them by some of those best qualified to 
judge. Mr. Edward D. Young, who had had dealings 
with Musa, and knew him to be a liar, was suspicious of 
the story ; so was Mr. Horace Waller. Sir Roderick 
Murchison, too, proclaimed himself an unbeliever, not- 
withstanding all the circumstantiality and apparent con- 
clusiveness of the tale. The country was resounding 
with lamentations, the newspapers were full of obituary 
notices, but the strong-minded disbelievers were not to 
be moved. 

Sir Roderick and his friends of the Geographical 
Society determined to organise a search expedition, and 
Mr. E. D. Young was requested to undertake the task. 
In May 18G7 all was ready for the departure of the 
Expedition ; and on the 25th July, Mr. E. D. Young, 
who was accompanied by Mr. Faulkner, John Reid, and 
Patrick Buckley, cast anchor at the mouth of the Zambesi. 
A steel boat named " The Search," and some smaller 
boats, were speedily launched, and the party were moving 
up the river. We have no space for an account of Mr. 
Young's most interesting journey, not even for the detail 
of that wonderful achievement, the carrying of the pieces 
of the " Search" past the Murchison Cataracts, and their 
reconstruction at the top, without a single piece missing. 
The sum and substance of Mr. Young's story was, that 
first, quite unexpectedly, he came upon a man near the 
south end of Lake Nyassa, who had seen Livingstone 
there, and who described him well, showing that he had 
not crossed at the north end, as Musa had said, but, for 
some reason, had come round by the south ; then, the 
chief Marenga not only told him of Livingstone's stay 
there, but also of the return of Musa, after leaving him, 
without any story of his murder ; also, at Mapunda, they 
came on traces of the boy Wikatani, and learned his 
story, though they did not see himself. The most ample 
proof of the falsehood of Musa's story was thus obtained, 



380 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xix. 

and by the end of 1867, Mr. Young, after a most active, 
gallant, and successful campaign, was approaching the 
shores of England. 1 No enterprise could have brought 
more satisfactory results, and all in the incredibly short 
period of eight months. 

Meanwhile, Livingstone, little thinking of all the com- 
motion that the knave Musa had created, was pushing on 
in the direction of Lake Tanganyika. Though it was not 
true that he had been murdered, it was true that he was 
half-starved. The want of other food compelled him to 
subsist to a large extent on African maize, the most 
tasteless and unsatisfying of food. It never produced 
the feeling of sufficiency, and it would set him to dream 
of dinners he had once eaten, though dreaming was not 
his habit, except when he was ill. Against his will, the 
thought of delicious feasts would come upon him, making 
it all the more difficult to be cheerful, with, probably, the 
poorest fare on which life could be in any way maintained. 
To complete his misery, his four goats were lost, so that 
the one comfort of his table — a little milk aloDg with 
his maize — was taken from him when most eagerly 
sought and valued. 

In reviewing the year 1866, he finds it less productive 
of results than he had hoped for: "We now end 1866. 
It has not been so fruitful or useful as I intended. Will 
try to do better in 1867, and be better — more gentle and 
loving ; and may the Almighty, to whom I commit my 
way, bring my desires to pass, and prosper me ! Let all 
the sins of '66 be blotted out, for Jesus' sake. May He 
who was full of grace and truth impress His character on 
mine : grace — eagerness to show favour ; truth — truthful- 
ness, sincerity, honour — for His mercy's sake." 

Habitually brave and fearless though Livingstone 
was, it was not without frequent self-stimulation, and 
acts of faith in unseen truth, that the peace of his mind 

1 See The Search for Livingstone, by E. D. Young : London, 1S68. 



1866-69.] FROM ZANZIBAR TO UJIJL 3S1 

was maintained. In the midst of his notes of progress, 
such private thoughts as the following occur from time to 
time : "It seems to have been a mistake to imagine that 
the Divine Majesty on high was too exalted to take any 
notice of our mean affairs. The great minds among men 
are remarkable for the attention they bestow on minutiae. 
An astronomer cannot be great unless his mind can grasp 
an infinity of very small things, each of which, if unattended 
to, would throw his work out. A great general attends 
to the smallest details of his army. The Duke of Welling- 
ton's letters show his constant attention to minute details. 
And so with the Supreme Mind of the universe, as He is 
iled to us in His Son. ' The very hairs of your head 
are all numbered.' * A sparrow cannot fall to the ground 
without your Father.' 'He who dwelleth in the light 
which no man can approach unto' condescends to provide 
for the minutest of our wants, directing, guarding, and 

sting in each hour and moment, with an infinitely 
more vigilant and excellent care than our own utmost 
self-love can ever attain to. With the ever-watchful, 
loving eye constantly upon me, I may surely follow my 
bent, and go among the heathen in front, bearing the 
message of peace and good- will. All appreciate the state- 
ment that it is offensive to our common Father to sell 
and kill His children. I will therefore go, and may the 
Almighty help me to be faithful ! " 

Writing to his son Thomas, 1st February 18G7, he 
complains again of his terrible hunger : — 

"The people have nothing to sell but a little millet-porridge and 
mushrooms. Woe i ; me! good enough to produce fine dreams of the 
beef of old England, hut nothing else. I have become very thin, 
though I was bo before j hut now, if you weighed me, you might cal- 
culate very easily how much you might get for the bones. But — we 
got a cow yesterday, and I am to get milk to-morrow. ... I grieve to 
write it, poor poodle 'Chitane' was drowned" [loth January, in the 
Chimb we]; "he had to cross a marsh a mile wide, and waist-deep. . . . 
I went over first, and forgot to give directions about the dog — all were 
too much engaged in keeping their balance to notice that he swam 



382 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xix. 

among them till he died. He had more spunk than a hundred country- 
dogs — took charge of the whole line of march, ran to see the first in 
the line, then back to the last, and barked to haul him up ; then, when 
he knew what hut I occupied, would not let a country cur come in sight 
of it, and never stole himself. We have not had any difficulties with 
the people, made many friends, imparted a little knowledge sometimes, 
and raised a protest against slavery very widely." 

The year 1867 was signalised by a great calamity, 
and by two important geographical feats. The cal- 
amity was the loss of his medicine-chest. It had 
been intrusted to one of his most careful people ; but, 
without authority, a carrier hired for the day took it 
and some other things to carry for the proper bearer, then 
bolted, and neither carrier nor box could be found. "I 
felt," says Livingstone, "as if I had now received the 
sentence of death, like poor Bishop Mackenzie." With 
the medicine-chest was lost the power of treating himself 
in fever with the medicine that had proved so effectual. 
We find him not long after in a state of insensibility, 
trying to raise himself from the ground, falling back with 
a]l his weight, and knocking his head upon a box. The 
loss of the medicine-box was probably the beginning of 
the end ; his system lost the wonderful power of recovery 
which it had hitherto shown ; and other ailments — in the 
lungs, the feet, and the bowels, that might have been kept 
under in a more vigorous state of general health, began 
hereafter to prevail against him. 

The two geographical feats were — his first sight of 
Lake Tanganyika, and his discovery of Lake Moero. In 
April he reached Lake Liemba, as the lower part of 
Tanganyika was called. The scenery was wonderfully 
beautiful, and the air of the whole region remarkably 
peaceful. The want of medicine made an illness here very 
severe ; on recovering, he would have gone down the lake, 
but was dissuaded, in consequence of his hearing that a 
chief was killing all that came that way. He therefore 
returns to Chitimba's, and resolves to explore Lake 



1S66-69.] FROM ZAXZIBAR TO UJIJL 383 

Moero, believing that there the question of the watershed 
would be decided. At Chitimba's, he is detained upwards 
of three months, in consequence of the disturbed state 
of the country. At last he gets the escort of some Arab 
traders, who show him much kindness, but again he is 
prostrated by illness, and at length he reaches Lake 
Moero, 8th November 18G7. He hears of another lake, 
called Bembo or Bangweolo, and to hear of- it is to resolve 
to see it. But he is terribly wearied with two years' 
travelling without having heard from home, and he thinks 
he must first go to Ujiji, for letters and stores. Mean- 
while, as the traders are going to Casembe's, he accom- 
panies them thither. Casembe he finds to be a fierce 
chief, who rules his people with great tyranny, cutting 
off their ears, and even their hands, for the most trivial 
offences. Persons so mutilated, seen in his village, 
excite a feeling of horror. This chief was not one easily 
got at, but Livingstone believed that he gained an 
influence with him, only he could not quite overcome 
his prejudice against him. The year 1867 ended with 
another severe attack of illness. 

" The chief interest in Lake Moero," says Livingstone, " is that it 
forms one of a chain of lakes, connected by a river some 500 miles 
in length. First of all, the Chambcze rises in the country of Mambwe, 
x.K. of Molemba; it then Hows south-west and west, till it reaches lat. 
11 s., and long. 29 J EL, where it forms Lake Bemba or Bangweolo; 
emergiiii: thence, it assumes the name of Luapula, and comes down 
here to fall into Moero. On going out of this lake it is known by the 
name of Lualaba, as it flows x.w. in Una to form another lake with 
many islands, called Urenge' or Ulenge. Beyond this, information is not 
positive as to whether it enters Lake Tanganyika, or another lake be- 
yond that. . . . Since coming to Casembe's, the testimony of natives 
and Arabs has been so united and consistent, that I am but ten days 
from Lake Bemba or Bangweolo, that I cannot doubt its accuracy." 

The detentions experienced in 18G7 were long and 
wearisome, and Livingstone disliked them because he was 
never well when doing nothing. His light reading must 
have been pretty well exhausted ; even Smith's 1)i<ti<>n<irij 



384 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xix. 

of the Bible, which accompanied him in these wander- 
ings, and which we have no doubt he read throughout, 
must have got wearisome sometimes. He occupied him- 
self in writing letters, in the hope that somehow or some- 
time he might find an opportunity of despatching them. 
He took the rainfall carefully during the year, and lunars, 
and other observations, when the sky permitted. He had 
intended to make his observations more perfect on this 
journey than on any previous one, but alas for his diffi- 
culties and disappointments ! A letter to Sir Thomas 
Maclear and Mr. Mann his assistant, gives a pitiful account 
of these : "I came this journey with a determination to 
observe very carefully all your hints as to occultations and 
observations, east and west, north and south, but I have 
been so worried by lazy, deceitful Sepoys, and thievish 
Johanna men, and indifferent instruments, that I fear the 
results are very poor." He goes on to say that some of 
his instruments were defective, and others went out of 
order, and that his time-taker, one of his people, had 
no conscience, and could not be trusted. The records of 
his observations, notwithstanding, indicate much care 
and pains. In April, he had been very unwell, taking 
fits of total insensibility, but as he had not said any- 
thing of this to his people at home, it was to be kept 
a secret. 

His Journal for 1867 ends with a statement of the 
poverty of his food, and the weakness to which he was 
reduced. He had hardly anything to eat but the coarsest 
grain of the country, and no tea, coffee, or sugar. An 
Arab trader, Mohamad Bogharib, who arrived at Casembe's 
about the same time, presented him with a meal of ver- 
micelli, oil, and honey, and had some coffee and sugar; 
Livingstone had had none since he left Nyassa. 

The Journal for 1868 begins with a prayer that if he 
should die that year, he might be prepared for it. The 
year was spent in the same region, and was signalised by 



1866-69.] FROM ZAXZ1 BAR TO UJIJI. 385 

the discovery of Lake Bemba, or, as it may more properly 
be called, Lake Bangweolo. Early in the year he heard 
accounts of what interested him greatly — certain under- 
ground houses in Rua, ranging along a mountain side for 
twenty miles. In some cases the doorways were level 
with the country adjacent ; in others, ladders were used 
to climb up to them ; inside they were said to be very 
large, and not the work of men, but of God. He became 
eagerly desirous to visit these mysterious dwellings. 

Circumstances turning out more favourable to his 
going to Lake Bangweolo, Dr. Livingstone put off his 
journey to Ujiji, on which his men had been counting, 
and much against the advice of Mohamad, his trader 
friend and companion, determined first to see the lake of 
which he had heard so much. The consequence was, a 
rebellion among his men. With the exception of five, 
they refused to go with him. They had been considerably 
demoralised by contact with the Arab trader and his 
slave-gang. Dr. Livingstone took this rebellion with 
wonderful placidity, for in his own mind he could not 
greatly blame them. It was no wonder they were tired 
of the everlasting tramping, for he was sick of it him- 
self. He reaped the fruit of his mildness by the men 
coming back to him, on his return from' the lake, and 
offering their services. It cannot be said of him that he 
was not disposed to make any allowance for human weak- 
ness. "When recording a fault, and how he dealt with it, 
he often adds, "consciousness of my own defects makes 
me lenient." " I also have my weaknesses." 

The way to the lake was marked by fresh and lament- 
able tokens of the sufferings of slaves. " 24th June. — 
Six men-slaves were singing as if they did not feel the 
weight and degradation of the slave-sticks. I asked the 
cause of their mirth, and was told that they rejoiced at 
the idea of ' coming back after death, and haunting and 
killing those who had sold them.' Some cf the words 



3 S6 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xix. 

I had to inquire about ; for instance, the meaning of the 
words, 'to haunt and kill by spirit power;' then it was, 
' Oh, you sent me off to Manga (sea-coast), but the yoke 
is off when I die, and back I shall come to haunt and to 
kill you/ Then all joined in the chorus, which was the 
name of each vendor. It told not of fun, but of the 
bitterness and tears of such as were oppressed ; and on 
the side of the oppressors there was power. There be 
higher than they \" 

His discovery of Lake Bangweolo is recorded as quietly 
as if it had been a mill-pond: "On the 18th July, I 
walked a little way out, and saw the shores of the lake 
for the first time, thankful that I had come safely hither." 
The lake had several inhabited islands, which Dr. Living- 
stone visited, to the great wonder of the natives, who 
crowded around him in multitudes, never having seen 
such a curiosity as a white man before. In the middle 
of the lake the canoe-men whom he had hired to carry 
him across refused to proceed further, under the influence 
of some fear, real or pretended, and he was obliged to 
submit. But the most interesting, though not the most 
pleasant, thing about the lake, was the ooze or sponge 
which occurred frequently on its banks. The spongy 
places were slightly depressed valleys, without trees or 
bushes, with grass a foot or fifteen inches high ; they 
were usually from two to ten miles long, and from a 
quarter of a mile to a mile broad. In the course of thirty 
geographical miles, he crossed twenty-nine, and that too, 
at the end of the fourth month of the dry season. It was 
necessary for him to strip the lower part of his person 
before fording them, and then the leeches pounced on him, 
and in a moment had secured such a grip, that even 
twisting them round the fingers failed to tear them off. 

It was Dr. Livingstone's impression at this time that 
in discovering Lake Bangweolo, with the sponges that fed 
it, he had made another discovery — that these marshy 



1S66-69.] FROM ZANZIBAR TO UJIJI. 3S7 

places might be the real sources of the three great rivers, 
the Nile, the Congo, and the Zambesi. A link, however, 
was yet wanting to prove his theory. It had yet to 
be shown that the waters that flowed from Lake Bang- 
weolo into Lake Moero, and thence northwards by the 
river Lualaba, were connected with the Nile system. 
Dr. Livingstone was strongly inclined to believe that 
this connection existed; but towards the close of his 
life he had more doubts of it, although it was left to 
others to establish conclusively that the Lualaba was the 
Congo, and sent no branch to the Nile. 

On lea vino* Lake Banfnveolo, detention occurred a^ain 
as it had occurred before. The country was very disturbed 
and very miserable, and Dr. Livingstone was in great 
straits and want. Yet with a grim humour he tells how, 
when lying in an open shed, with all his men around him, 
he dreamt of having apartments at Mivart's Hotel. It 
was after much delay that he found himself at last, under 
the escort of a slave-party, on the way to Ujiji. Mr. 
Waller has graphically described the situation. " At 
last he makes a start on the 11th of December 1868, with 
the Arabs, who are bound eastwards for Ujiji. It is a 
motley group, composed of Mohamad and his friends, a 
of Unvamwezi hangers-on, and strings of wretched 
slaves yoked together in their heavy slave-sticks. Some 
carry ivory, others copper, or food for the march, whilst 
hope and fear, misery and villainy, may be read off on the 
various faces that pass in line out of this country, like a 
serpent dragging its accursed folds away from the victim 
it has paralysed with its fangs." 

New Year's Day, 18 GO, found Livingstone labouring 
tinder a worse attack of illness than any he had ever had 
before. For ten weeks to come his situation was as pain- 
ful as can be conceived. A continual cough, night and 
day, the most distressing weakness, inability to walk, yet 
the necessity of moving on, or rather of being moved on, 



3 88 DAVID LIVINGSTONE, [chap. xix. 

in a kind of litter arranged by Mohamad Bogharib — where, 
with his face poorly protected from the sun, he was 
jolted up and down and sideways, without medicine or 
food for an invalid, — made the situation sufficiently trying. 
His prayer was that he might hold out to Ujiji, where he 
expected to find medicines and stores, with the rest and 
shelter so necessary in his circumstances. So ill was he, 
that he lost count of the days of the week and the month. 
" I saw myself lying dead in the way to Ujiji, and all the 
letters I expected there — useless. When I think of my 
children, the lines ring through my head perpetually : — 

* I shall look into your faces, 

And listen to what you say ; 
And be often very near you 

When you think I 'm far away.' " 

On the 26th February 1869 he embarked in a canoe 
on Tanganyika, and on the 14th March he reached the 
longed-for Ujiji, on the eastern shore of the lake. To 
complete his trial, he found that the goods he expected 
had been made away with in every direction. A few 
fragments was about all he could find. Medicines, wine, 
and cheese had been left at Unyanyembe, thirteen days 
distant. A war was raging on the way, so that they could 
not be sent for till the communications were restored. 

To obviate as far as possible the recurrence of such a 
disaster to a new store of goods which he was now asking 
Dr. Kirk to send him, Livingstone wrote a letter to the 
Sultan of Zanzibar, 20th April 1869, in which he frankly 
and cordially acknowledged the benefit he had derived 
from the letter of recommendation his Highness had 
given him, and the great kindness of the Arabs, espe- 
cially Mohamad Bogharib, who had certainly saved his life. 
Then he complains of the robbery of his goods, chiefly by 
one Musa bin Salim, one of the people of the G overnor 
of Unyanyembe, who had bought ivory with the price, and 
another man who had bought a wife. Livingstone does 



1S66-69.] FROM ZAXZIBAR TO UJIJI. 3S9 

not expect his cloth and beads to be brought back, or the 
price of the wife and ivory returned, but he says : — 

11 1 beg the assistance of your authority to prevent a 
fresh stock of goods, for which I now send to Zanzibar, 
being plundered in the same way. Had it been the loss 
of ten or twelve pieces of cloth only, I should not have 
presumed to trouble your Highness about the loss ; but 
G2 pieces or gorahs out of 80, besides beads, is like cut- 
ting a man's throat. If one or two guards of good 
character could be sent by you, no one would plunder 
the pagasi next time. 

" I wish also to hire twelve or fifteen good freemen 
to act as canoe-men or porters, or in any other capacity 
that may be required. I shall be greatly obliged if you 
appoint one of your gentlemen who knows the country to 
select that number, and give them and their headman a 
charge as to their behaviour. If they know that you 
wish them to behave well it will have great effect. I 
wish to go down Tanganyika, through Luanda and Chow- 
ambe, and past the river Karagwe, which falls into Lake 
Chowambe. Then come back to Ujiji, visit Manyuema 
and Rua, and then return to Zanzibar, when I hope to 
see your Highness in the enjoyment of health and 
happiness." 

Livingstone showed only his usual foresight in taking 
these precautions for the protection of his next cargo of 
goods. In stating so plainly his intended route, his pur- 
pose was doubtless to prevent carelessness in executing 
his orders, such as might have arisen had it been deemed 
uncertain where he was going, and whether or not he 
meant to return by Zanzibar. 

Of letters during the latter part of this period very 
few seem to have reached their destination. A short 
letter to Dr. Moffat, bearing date " Near Lake Moero, 
March 1868," dwells dolefully on his inability to reach 
Lake Bemba in consequence of the flooded state of the 



3QO DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xix. 

country, and then his detention through the strifes of 
the Arabs and the natives. The letter, however, is more 
occupied with reviewing the past than narrating the 
present. In writing to Dr. Moffat, he enters more 
minutely than he would have done with a less intimate 
and sympathetic friend into the difficulties of his lot — 
difficulties that had been increased by some from whom 
he might have expected other things. He had once seen 
a map, displayed in the rooms of the Geographical Society, 
substantially his own, but w T ith another name in con- 
spicuous letters. On the Zambesi he had had difficulties, 
little suspected, of which in the meantime he would say 
nothing to the public. A letter to his daughter Agnes, 
after he had gone to Bangweolo, dwells also much on his 
past difficulties — as if he felt that the slow progress he 
was making at the moment needed explanation or apology. 
Amid such topics, almost involuntary touches of the old 
humour occur : — " I broke my teeth tearing at maize and 
other hard food, and they are coming out. One front tooth 
is out, and I have such an awful mouth. If you expect a| 
kiss from me, you must take it through a speaking-trum-\ 
pet." In one respect, amid all his trials, his heart seems 
to become more tender than ever — in affection for his chil- 
dren, and wise and considerate advice for their guidance. 
In his letter to Agnes, he adverts with some regret to 
a chance he lost of saying a word for his fami]y when 
Lord Palmerston sent Mr. Hay ward, Q.C., to ask him 
what he could do to serve him. " It never occurred to 
me that he meant anything for me or my children till I 
was out here. I thought only of my work in Africa, 
and answered accordingly. " It was only the fear that 
his family would be in want that occasioned this mo- 
mentary regret at his disinterested answer to Lord 
Palmerston. 



1869-71.] MANYUEMA. 39 1 



CHAPTER XX. 

MANYUEMA. 

a.d. 1869-1871. 

He sets out to explore Manyuema and the river Lualaba — Loss of forty-two 
letters — His feebleness through illness — He arrives at Bamhanv — Becomes 
acquainted with the soko or gorilla — Reaches the Luama river — Magnificence 
of the country — Repulsiveness of the people — Cannot get a canoe to explore 
the Lualaba — Has to return to Bambarre — Letter to Thomas, and retrospect 
of his life — Letter to Sir Thomas Maclear and Mr. Mann — Miss Tinne — He 
is worse in health than ever, yet resolves to add to his programme and go 
round Lake Bangweolo — Letter to Agnes — Review of the past — He sets out 
anew in a more northerly direction — Overpowered by constant wet — Reaches 
Nyangwe — Long detention — Letter to his brother John — Sense of difficulties 
and troubles — Nobility of his spirit — He sets off with only three attendants 
for the Lualaba — Suspicions of the natives — Influence of Arab traders — 
Frightful difficulties of the way — Lamed by foot-sores — Has to return to 
Bambarre— Long and wearisome detention — Occupations — Meditations and 
reveries — Death no terror — Unparalleled position and trials — He reads his 
Bible from beginning to end four times — Letter to Sir Thomas Maclear — To 
Agnes — His delight at her sentiments about his coming home — Account of 
the soko — Grief to hear of death of Lady Murchison — Wretched character of 
men sent from Zanzibar — At last sets out with Mohamad — Difficulties — 
Slave-trade most horrible — Cannot get canoes for Lualaba — Long waiting — 
New plan — Frustrated by horrible massacre on banks of Lualaba — Frightful 
scene — He must return to Ujiji — New illness — Perils of journey to Ujiji — 
Life three times endangered in one day — Reaches Ujiji — Shereef has sold off 
his goods — He is almost in despair — Meets Henry M. Stanley and is relieved 
— His contributions to Natural Science during last journeys — Professor Owen 
in the Quarterly ll< vu w. 

After resting for a few weeks at Ujiji, Dr. Livingstone 
set out, 12th July 18G9, to explore the Manyuema 
country. Ujiji was not a place favourable for making 
;in;mgements ; it was the resort of the worst scum of 
Arab traders. Even to send his letters to the coast was 
a difficult undertaking, for the bearers were afraid he 



39 2 



DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xx. 



would expose their doings. On one day he despatched 
no fewer than forty-two — enough, no doubt, to form a 
large volume ; none of these ever arrived at Zanzibar, so 
that they must have been purposely destroyed. The 
slave-traders of Urungu and Itawa, where he had been, 
were gentlemen compared with those of Ujiji, who 
resembled the Kilwa and Portuguese, and with whom 
trading was simply a system of murder. Here lay the 
cause of Livingstone's unexampled difficulties at this 
period of his life ; he was dependent on men who were 
not only knaves of the first magnitude, but who had a 
special animosity against him, and a special motive to 
deceive, rob, and obstruct him in every possible way. 

After considerable deliberation he decided to go 
to Manyuema, in order to examine the river Lualaba, 
and determine the direction of its now. This would 
settle the question of the watershed, and in four or five 
' months, if he should get guides and canoes, his work 
would be done. On setting out from Ujiji he first 
crossed the lake, and then proceeded inland on foot. He 
was still weak from illness, and his lungs were so feeble 
that to walk up-hill made him pant. He became stronger, 
however, as he went on, refreshed doubtless by the in- 
teresting country through which he passed, and the 
aspect of the people, who were very different from the 
tribes on the coast. 

On the 21st September he arrived at Bambarre in 
Manyuema, the village of the Chief Moenelmss. He 
found the people in a state of great isolation from the 
rest of the world, with nothing to trust to but charms 
and idols, — both being bits of wood. He made the 
acquaintance of the soko or gorilla, not a very social 
animal, for it always tries to bite off the ends of its 
captor's fingers and toes. Neither is it particularly 
intellectual, for its nest shows no more contrivance than 
that of a cushat dove. The curiosity of the people was 



1869-71.] MANYUEMA. 393 

very great, and sometimes it took an interesting direc- 
tion. " Do people die with you ?" asked two intelligent 
young men. " Have you no charm against death? Where 
do people go after death V Livingstone spoke to them 
of the great Father, and of their prayers to Him who 
hears the cry of His children ; and they thought this to 
be natural. 

He rested at Bambarre till the 1st of November, and 
then went westwards till he reached the Luamo river, 
and was within ten miles of its confluence with the 
Lualaba. He found the country surpassingly beautiful : 
" Palms crown the highest heights of the mountains, and 
their gracefully bent fronds wave beautifully in the wind. 
Climbers of cable size in great numbers are hung among 
the gigantic trees ; many unknown wild fruits abound, 
some the size of a child's head, and strange birds and 
monkeys are everywhere. The soil is excessively rich, 
and the people, though isolated by old feuds that are 
never settled, cultivate largely." 

The country was very populous, and Livingstone so 
excited the curiosity of the people that he could hardly 
get quit of the crowds. It was not so uninteresting to 
be stared at by the women, but he was wearied with the 
ugliness of the men. Palm-toddy did not inspire them 
with any social qualities, but made them low and dis- 
agreeable. They had no friendly feeling for him, and 
could not be inspired with any. They thought that he 
and his people were like the Arab traders, and they would 
not do anything for them. It was impossible to procure 
a canoe for navigating the Lualaba, so that there was 
nothing for it but to return to Bambarre, which was 
reached on the 19th December 18G9. 

A long letter to his son Thomas (Town of Moenekuss, 
Manyuema Country, 24th September 18G9) gives a 
retrospect of this period, and indeed, in a sense, of his 
life :— 



394 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xx. 

" My dear Tom, — I begin a letter, though I have no prospect of 
being able to send it off for many months to come. It is to have 
something in readiness when the hurry usual in preparing a mail does 
arrive. I am in the Manyuema Country, about 150 miles west of 
Ujiji, and at the town of Moenekoos or Moenekuss, a principal chief 
among the reputed cannibals. His name means ' Lord of the light- 
grey parrot with a red tail,' which abounds here, and he points away 
still further west to the country of the real cannibals. His people 
laugh and say ' Yes, we eat the flesh of men/ and should they see the 
inquirer to be credulous enter into particulars. A black stuff smeared 
on the cheeks is the sign of mourning, and they told one of my people 
who believes all they say that it is animal charcoal made of the bones 
of the relatives they have eaten. They showed him the skull of one 
recently devoured, and he pointed it out to me in triumph. It was the 
skull of a gorilla, here called ' soko/ and this they do eat. They put 
a bunch of bananas in his way, and hide till he comes to take them, 
and spear him. Many of the Arabs believe firmly in the cannibal 
propensity of the Manyuema. Others who have lived long among 
them, and are themselves three-fourths African blood, deny it. I 
suspect that this idea must go into oblivion with those of people who 
have no knowledge of fire, of the Supreme Being, or of language. 
The country abounds in food, — goats, sheep, fowls, buffaloes, and 
elephants : maize, holcuserghum, cassaba, sweet potatoes, and other 
farinaceous eatables, and with ground-nuts, palm-oil, palms and other 
fat-yielding nuts, bananas, plantains, sugar-cane in great plenty. So 
there is little inducement to eat men, but I wait for further evidence. 

" Not knowing how your head has fared, I sometimes feel greatly 
distressed about you, and if I could be of any use I would leave my 
work unfinished to aid you. But you will have every medical assist- 
ance that can be rendered, and I cease not to beg the Lord who healeth 
His people to be gracious to your infirmity. 

" The object of my expedition is the discovery of the sources of 
the Nile. Had I known all the hardships, toil, and time involved I 
would have been of the mind of Saint Mungo of Glasgow, of whom the 
song says that he let the Molendinar Burn ' rin by,' when he could get 
something stronger. I would have let the sources i rin by ' to Egypt, 
and never been made 'drumly' by my plashing through them. But 
I shall make this country and people better known. ' This,' Professor 
Owen said to me, ' is the first step ; the rest will in due time follow.' 
By different agencies the Great Ruler is bringing all things into a 
focus. Jesus is gathering all things unto Himself, and He is daily 
becoming more and more the centre of the world's hopes and of the 
world's fears. War brought freedom to 4,000,000 of the most hope- 
less and helpless slaves. The world never saw such fiendishness as 
that with which the Southern slaveocracy clung to slavery. No power 
in this world or the next would ever make them relax their iron grasp. 
The lie had entered into their soul. Their cotton was Kinsr. With it 



1869-71.J MAXYUEMA. 395 

they would foTce England and Fiance to make them independent, 
because without it the English and French must starve. Instead of 
being made a nation, they made a nation of the North. War has 
elevated and purified the Yankees, and now they have the gigantic 
task laid at their doors to elevate and purify 4,000,000 of slaves. I 
earnestly hope that the Northerners may not be found wanting in 
their portion of the superhuman work. The day for Africa is yet to 
come. Possibly the freed men may be an agency in elevating their 
Fatherland. 

" England is in the rear. This affair in Jamaica brought out the 
fact of a large infusion of bogiephobia in the English. Frightened in 
early years by their mothers with ' Bogie Blackman,' they were 
terrified out of their wits by a riot, and the sensation writers, who act 
the part of the ' dreadful boys ' who frighten aunts, yelled out that 
emancipation was a mistake. ' The Jamaica negroes were as savage as 
when they left Africa.' They might have put it much stronger by 
saying, as the rabble that attended Tom Sayers's funeral, or that collects 
at every execution at Newgate. But our golden age is not in the past. 
It is in the future, — in the good time coming yet for Africa and for 
the world. 

" The task I undertook was to examine the watershed of South 
Central Africa. This was the way Sir Eoderick put it, and though 
he mentioned it as the wish of the Geographical Council, I suspect 
it was his own idea ; for two members of the Society wrote out ' in- 
structions ' for me, and the watershed was not mentioned. But 
scientific words were used which the writers evidently did not under- 
stand. 

" The examination of the watershed contained the true scientific 
mode of procedure, and Sir Roderick said to me : ' You will be the 
discoverer of the sources of the Nile.' I shaped my course for a path 
across the north end of Lake Nyassa, but to avoid the certainty of 
seeing all my attendants bolting at the first sight of the wild tribes 
there, the Nindi, I changed off to go round the south end, and if not, 
cross the middle. "What I feared for the north took place in the 
south when the Johanna men heard of the Mazitu, though we were 
150 miles from the marauders, and I offered to go due west till 
past their beat. They were terrified, and ran away as soon as they 
saw my face turned west. I got carriers from village to village, and 
got on nicely with people who had never engaged in the slave-trade; 
but it was slow work. I came very near to the Mazitu three times, 
but obtained information in time to avoid them. Once we were taken 
for Mazitu ourselves, and surrounded by a crowd of excited savages. 
They produced a state of confusion and terror, and men fled hither 
and thither with the fear of death on them. Casembe would not let 
me go into his southern district till he had sent men to see that the 
Mazitu, or, as they are called in Lunda, the Watuta, had left. Where 
they had been all the food was swept off, and we suffered cruel hunger. 



396 DA V1D LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xx. 

We had goods to buy with, but the people had nothing to sell, and 
were living on herbs and mushrooms. I had to feel every step of the 
way, and generally was groping in the dark. No one knew anything 
beyond his own district, and who cared where the rivers ran? 
Casembe said, when I was going to Lake Bangweolo: 'One piece of water 
was just like another (it is the Bangweolo water), but as your chief 
desired you to visit that one, go to it. If you see a travelling party 
going north, join it. If not, come back to me and I will send you 
safely along my path by Moero ; ' and gave me a man's load of a fish 
like whitebait. I gradually gained more light on the country, and 
slowly and surely saw the problem of the fountains of the Nile de- 
veloping before my eyes. The vast volume of water draining away to 
the north made me conjecture that I had been working at the sources 
of the Congo too. My present trip to Manyuema proves that all goes 
to the river of Egypt. In fact, the head-waters of the Nile are 
gathered into two or three arms, very much as was depicted by Ptolemy 
in the second century of our era. What we moderns can claim is re- 
discovery of what had fallen into oblivion, like the circumnavigation 
of Africa by the Phoenician admiral of one of the Pharaohs B.C. 600. 
He was not believed, because ' he had the sun on his right hand in 
going round from cast to west.' Though to us this stamps his tale as 
genuine, Ptolemy was not believed, because his sources were between 
10 and 12 north latitude, and collected into two or three great head 
branches. In my opinion his informant must have visited them. 

"I cared nothing for money, and contemplated spending my 
life as a hard-working poor missionary. By going into the country 
beyond Kuruman we pleased the Directors, but the praises they 
bestowed excited envy. Mamma and you all had hard times. The 
missionaries at Kuruman, and south of it, had comfortable houses and 
gardens. They could raise wheat, pumpkins, maize, at very small ex- 
pense, and their gardens yielded besides apples, pears, apricots; peaches, 
quinces, oranges, grapes, almonds, walnuts, and all vegetables, for 
little more than the trouble of watering. A series of droughts compelled 
us to send for nearly all our food 270 miles off. Instead of help we 
had to pay the uttermost farthing for everything, and got bitter envy 
besides. Many have thought that I was inflated by the praises I had 
lavished upon me, but I made it a rule never to read anything of 
praise. I am thankful that a kind Providence has enabled me to do 
what will reflect honour on my children, and show myself a stout- 
hearted servant of Him from whom comes every gift. None of you 
must become mean, craven -hearted, untruthful, or dishonest, for if you 
do, you don't inherit it from me. I hope that you have selected a 
profession that suits your taste. It will make you hold up your head 
among men, and is your most serious duty. I shall not live long, and 
it would not be- well to rely on my influence. I could help you a 
little while living, but have little else than what people call a great 
name to bequeath afterwards. I am nearly toothless, and in my 



1869-7 1-] MANYUEMA. 397 

second childhood. The green maize was in one part the only food we 
could get with any taste. I ate the hard fare, and was once horrified 
by finding most of my teeth loose. They never fastened again, and 
generally became so loose as to cause pain. I had to extract them, 
and did so by putting on a strong thread with what sailors call a 
clovehiteh, tie the other end to a stump above or below, as the tooth 
was upper or lower, strike the thread with a heavy pistol or stick, and 
the tooth dangled at the stump, and no pain was felt. Two upper 
front teeth are thus out, and so many more, I shall need a whole set 
of artificials. I may here add that the Manyuema stole the bodies of 
slaves which were buried, till a threat was used. They said the 
hyenas had exhumed the dead, but a slave was cast out by Banyamwezi, 
and neither hyenas nor men touched it for seven days. The threat was 
effectual. I think that they are cannibals, but not ostentatiously so. 
The disgust expressed by native traders has made them ashamed. 
"Women never partook of human flesh. Eating sokos or gorillas 
must have been a step in the process of teaching them to eat men. 
The sight of a soko nauseates me. He is so hideously ugly, I can 
conceive no other use for him than sitting for a portrait of Satan. I 
have lost many months by rains, refusal of my attendants to go into a 
canoe, and irritable eating ulcers on my feet from wading in mud 
instead of sailing. They are frightfully common, and often kill slaves. 
I am recovering, and hope to go down Lualaba, which I would call 
Webb River or Lake ; touch then another Lualaba, which I will name 
Young's River or Lake; and then by the good hand of our Father above 
turn homewards through Karagwe. As ivory trading here is like 
gold-digging, I felt constrained to offer a handsome sum of money 
and goods to my friend Mohamad Bogharib for men. It was better to 
do this than go back to Ujiji, and then come over the whole 260 
miles. I would have waited there for men from Zanzibar, but the 
authority at Ujiji behaved so oddly about my letters, I fear they 
never went to the coast. The worthless slaves I have saw that I was 
at their mercy, for no Manyuema will go into the next district, and 
they behaved as low savages who have been made free alone can. 
Their eagerness to enslave and kill their own countrymen is dis- 
tressing. . . . 

" Give my love to Oswell and Anna Mary and the Aunties. I 
have received no letter from any of you since I left home. The good 
Lord bless you all, and be gracious to you. — Affectionately yours, 

" David Livingstone." 



Another letter is addressed to Sir Thomas Maclear 
and Mr. Mann, September 18G9. He enters at con- 
siderable length into his reasons for the supposition that 
he had discovered, on the watershed, the true sources of 



39 8 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xx. 

the Nile. He refers in a generous spirit to the discoveries 
of other travellers, mistaken though he regarded their 
views on the sources, and is particularly complimentary 
to Miss Tinne : — 

" A Dutch lady whom I never saw, and of whom I know nothing 
save from scraps in the newspapers, moves my sympathy more than 
any other. By her wise foresight in providing a steamer, and pushing 
on up the river after the severest domestic affliction — the loss by 
fever of her two aunts — till after she was assured by Speke and 
Grant that they had already discovered in Victoria Nyanza the sources 
she sought, she proved herself a genuine explorer, and then by trying 
to go S.W. on land. Had they not, honestly enough of course, given 
her their mistaken views, she must inevitably, by boat or on land, have 
reached the head-waters of the Nile. I cannot conceive of her 
stopping short of Bangweolo. She showed such indomitable pluck 
she must be a descendant of Van Tromp, who swept the English 
Channel till killed by our Blake, and whose tomb every Englishman 
who goes to Holland is sure to visit. 

" We great he-beasts say, ' Exploration was not becoming her sex.' 
Well, considering that at least 1600 years have elapsed since Ptolemy's 
informants reached this region, and kings, emperors, and all the great 
men of antiquity longed in vain to know the fountains, exploration 
does not seem to have become the other sex either. She came much 
further up than the two centurions sent by Nero Caesar. 

" I have to go down and see where the two arms unite — the lost 
city Meroe ought to be there, — then get back to Ujiji to get a supply 
of goods which I have ordered from Zanzibar, turn bankrupt after I 
secure them, and let my creditors catch me if they can, as I finish up 
by going round outside and south of all the sources, so that I may be 
sure no one will cut me out and say he found other sources south of 
mine. This is one reason for my concluding trip ; another is to visit 
the underground houses in stone, and the copper mines of Katanga 
which have been worked for ages (Malachite). I have still a seriously 
long task before me. My letters have been delayed inexplicably, so I 
don't know my affairs. If I have a salary I don't know it, though the 
Daily Telegraph abused me for receiving it when I had none. Of this 
alone I am sure — my friends will all wish me to make a complete 
work of it before I leave, and in their wish I join. And it is better to 
go in now than to do it in vain afterwards." 

" I have still a seriously long task before me." Yet 
he had lately been worse in health and weaker than he 
had ever been ; he was much poorer than he expected to 
be, and the difficulties had proved far beyond any he had 



1869-71.] MANYUEMA. 399 

hitherto experienced. But so far from thinking of taking 
things more easily than before, he actually enlarges his 
programme, and resolves to "finish up by going round 
outside and south of all the sources." His spirit seems 
only to rise as difficulties are multiplied. 

He writes to his daughter Agnes at the same time : 
" You remark that you think you could have travelled as 
well as Mrs. Baker, and I think so too. Your mamma 
was famous for roughing it in the bush, and was never a 
trouble." The allusion carries him to old days — their 
travels to Lake 'Ngami, Mrs. Livingstone's death, the 
Helmores, the Bishop, Thornton. Then he speaks of 
recent troubles and difficulties, his attack of pneumonia, 
from which he had not expected to recover, his annoy- 
ances with his men, so unlike the old Makololo, the loss 
of his letters and boxes, with the exception of two from 
an unknown donor that contained the Saturday Review 
and his old friend Funch for 1868. Then he goes over 
African travellers and their achievements, real and sup- 
posed. He returns again to the achievements of ladies, 
and praises Miss Tinne and other women. " The death- 
knell of American slavery was rung by a woman's hand. 
We great he-beasts say Mrs. Stowe exaggerated. From 
what I have seen of slavery I say exaggeration is a simple 
impossibility. I go with the sailor who, on seeing slave- 
traders, said : ' If the devil don't catch these fellows, we 
might as well have no devil at all.' " 

The year 1870 was begun with the prayer that in 
the course of it he might be able to complete his enter- 
prise, and retire through the Basango before the end of it. 
In February he hears with gratitude of Mr. E. D. Young's 
Search Expedition up the Shire and Nyassa. In setting 
out anew he takes a more northerly course, proceeding 
through paths blocked with very rank vegetation, and 
suffering from choleraic illness caused by constant wet- 
tings. In the course of a month the effects of the wet 



4 oo DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xx. 

became overpowering, and on 7th February Dr. Living- 
stone had to go into winter quarters. He remained 
quiet till 26th June. 

In April 1870, from " Manyuema or Cannibal Country, 
say 150 miles N.w. of Ujiji," he began a letter to Sir 
Roderick Murchison, but changed its destination to his 
brother John in Canada. He notices his immediate 
object — to ascertain where the Lualaba joined the eastern 
branch of the Nile, and contrasts the lucid reasonable 
problem set him by Sir Roderick with the absurd 
instructions he had received from some members of the 
Geographical Society. " I was to furnish ' a survey on 
successive pages of my journal/ ' latitudes every night,' 
' hydrography of Central Africa/ and because they voted 
one-fifth or perhaps one-sixth part of my expenses, give 
them £ all my notes, copies if not the originals !' For 
mere board and no lodgings I was to work for years 
and hand over the results to them." Contrasted with 
such absurdities, Sir Roderick's proposal had quite 
fascinated him. He had ascertained that the watershed 
extended 800 miles from west to east, and had traversed 
it in every direction, but at a cost which had been 
wearing out both to mind and body. He drops a tear 
over the Universities Mission, but becomes merry over 
Bishop Tozer strutting about with his crosier at Zanzibar, 
and in a fine clear day getting a distant view of the 
continent of which he claimed to be Bishop. He 
denounces the vile policy of the Portuguese, and laments 
the indecision of some influential persons who virtually 
upheld it. He is tickled with the generous offer of a 
small salary, when he should settle somewhere, that had 
been made to him by the Government, while men who 
had risked nothing were getting handsome salaries of far 
greater amount ; but rather than sacrifice the good of 
Africa, he would spend every penny of his private 
means. He seems surrounded by a whole sea of difii- 



1S69-71.] MANYUEMA. 401 

culties, but through all, the nobility of his spirit shines 
undi mined. To persevere in the line of duty is his only 
conceivable course. He holds as firmly as ever by the 
old anchor — " All will turn out right at last." 

When ready they set out, on 26th June. Most of 
his people failed him; but nothing daunted, he set off 
then with only three attendants, Susi, Chuma, and 
Gardner, to the north-west for the Lualaba. Whenever he 
comes among Arab traders he finds himself suspected and 
hated because he is known to condemn their evil deeds. 

The difficulties by the way were terrible. Fallen- trees 
and flooded rivers made marching a perpetual struggle. 
For the first time, Livingstone's feet failed him. Instead 
uf healing as hitherto, when torn by hard travel, irritat- 
ing sores fastened upon them, and as he had but three 
attendants, he had to limp back to Bambarre, which he 
readied in the middle of July. 

And here he remained in his hut for eighty days, 
till 10th October, exercising patience, harrowed by the 
wickedness he could not stop, extracting information 
from the natives, thinking about the fountains of the 
Nile, trying to do some good among the people, listening 
{counts of soko-hunting, and last, not least, reading 
his Bible. He did not leave Bambarre till lGth February 
L871. From what he had seen and what he had heard 
lie was more and more persuaded that he was among the 
true fountains of the Nile. His reverence for the Bible 
gave that river a sacred character, and to throw light on 

•rigin seemed a kind of religious act. He admits, 
however, that he is not quite certain about it, though he 
does not see how he can be mistaken. He dreams that 
in his early Life Moses may have been in these parts, and 
if lie should only discover any confirmation of sacred 
history or sacred chronology lie would not grudge all the 
toil and hardship, the pain and hunger, lie had undergone. 
The very spot where the fountains are to be found becomes 

2 C 



402 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xx. 

defined in his mind. He even drafts a despatch which he 
hopes to write, saying that the fountains are within a 
quarter of a mile of each other ! 

Then he bethinks him of his friends who have done 
noble battle with slavery, and half in fancy, half in 
earnest, attaches their names to the various waters. The 
fountain of the Liambai or Upper Zambesi he names 
Palmerston Fountain, in fond remembrance of that good 
man's long and unwearied labour for the abolition of the 
slave-trade. The lake formed by the Lufira is to be 
Lincoln Lake, in gratitude to him who gave freedom to 
four millions of slaves. The fountain of Lufira is associated 
with Sir Bartle Frere, who accomplished the grand work 
of abolishing slavery in Sindia in Upper India. The 
central Lualaba is called the River Webb, after the 
warm-hearted friend under whose roof he wrote The 
Zambesi and its Tributaries; while the western branch 
is named the Young River, to commemorate his early 
instructor in chemistry and life-long friend, James 
Young. " He has shed pure white light in many lowly 
cottages and in some rich palaces. I too have shed 
light of another kind, and am fain to believe that I have 
performed a small part in the grand revolution which 
our Maker has been for ages carrying on, by multitudes 
of conscious and many unconscious agents, all over the 
world.'' 1 

He is by no means unaware that death may be in the 
cup. But, fortified as he was by an unalterable convic- 
tion that he was in the line of duty, the thought of 
death had no influence to turn him either to the right 
hand or to the left. For the first three years he had 
had a strong presentiment that he would fall. But it 
had passed away as he came near the end, and now 
he prayed God that when he retired it might be to 
his native home. 

1 See Last Journals, vol. ii. pp. 65, 66. 



1S69-71.] MANYUEMA. 403 

Probably no human being- Avas ever in circumstances 
parallel to those in which Livingstone now stood. Years 
bad passed since he had heard from home. The soimd of 
his mother tongue came to him only in the broken sen- 
tences of Chum a or Susi or his other attendants, or in the 
echoes of his own voice as he poured it out in prayer, or 
in some cry of home-sickness that could not be kept in. 
In long pain and sickness there had been neither wife nor 
child nor brother to cheer him with sympathy, or lighten 
his dull hut with a smile. He had been baffled and 
tantalised beyond description in his efforts to complete 
the little bit of exploration which was yet necessary to 
finish his task. His soul was vexed for the frightful 
exhibitions of wickedness around him, where "man to 
man/ instead of brothers, were worse than wolves and 
tigers to each other. During all his past life he had 
been sowing his seed weeping, but so far was he from 
bringing hack hie, sheaves rejoicing, that the longer he 
lived the more cause there seemed for his tears. He had 
not yet seen of the travail of his soul. In opening Africa 
he had seemed to open it for brutal slave-traders, and in 
the only instance in which he had yet brought to it the 
feet of men " beautiful upon the mountains, publishing 
peace," disaster had befallen, and an incompetent leader 
had broken up the enterprise. Yet, apart from his sense of 
duty, there was no necessity for his remaining there. He 
offering himself a freewill- offering, a living sacrifice. 
What could have sustained his heart and kept him firm 
to his purpose in such a wilderness of desolation ? 

"I read the whole Bible through four times whilst I 
was in Manyuenia." 

80 he wrote in his Diary, not at the time, but the 

after, on 3d October L87L 1 The Bible gathers 

wonderful interest from the circumstances in which it 

ad. In Livingstone's circumstances it was more 

Last Journals, vol. ii. p. 154. 



4 o 4 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xx. 

the Bible to him than ever. All his loneliness and 
sorrow, the sickness of hope deferred, the yearnings 
for home that could neither be repressed nor gratified, 
threw a new light on the Word. How clearly it was 
intended for such as him, and how sweetly it came 
home to him ! How faithful too were its pictures 
of human sin and sorrow ! How true its testimony 
against man, who will not retain God in his knowledge, 
but, leaving Him, becomes vain in his imaginations and 
hard in his heart, till the bloom of Eden is gone, and a 
waste howling wilderness spreads around ! How glorious 
the out-beaming of Divine Love, drawing near to this 
guilty race, winning and cherishing them with every 
endearing act, and at last dying on the cross to redeem 
them ! And how bright the closing scene of Revelation 
— the new heaven and the new earth wherein dwelleth 
righteousness — yes, he can appreciate that attribute — 
the curse gone, death abolished, and all tears wiped from 
the mourner s eye ! 

So the lonely man in his dull hut is riveted to the 
well-worn book ; ever finding it a greater treasure as he 
goes along ; and fain, when he has reached its last page, 
to turn back to the beginning, and gather up more of 
the riches which he has left upon the road. 

To Sir Thomas Maclear and Mr. Mann he writes 
during his detention (September 1870) on a leaf of his 
cheque-book, his paper being done. He gives his theory 
of the rivers, enlarges on the fertility of the country, 
bewails his difficulty in getting men, as the Manyuema 
never go beyond their own country, and the traders, who 
have only begun to come there, are too busy collecting 
ivory to be able to spare men. " The tusks were left in 
the terrible forests, where the animals were killed ; the 
people, if treated civilly, readily go and bring the precious 
teeth, some half rotten, or gnawed by the teeth of a 
rodent called dezi. I think that mad naturalists name it 



1S69-71.] MAXYUEMA. 405 

Aulocaudatus Swindermanus, or some equally wise agglu- 
tination of syllables. . . . My chronometers are all dead; I 
hope toy old watch was sent to Zanzibar; but I have got 
no letters for years, save some, three years old, at Ujiji. 
I have an intense and sore Ion gin £ to finish and retire, 
and trust that the Almighty may permit me to go home." 

In one of his letters to Agnes from Manyuema he 
quotes some words from a letter of hers that he ever 
after cherished as a most refreshing cordial : — 

" I commit myself to the Almighty Disposer of events, 
and if I fall, will do so doing my duty, like one of His 
stout-hearted servants. I am delighted to hear you say 
that, much as you wish me home, you would rather hear 
of my finishing my work to my own satisfaction than 
come merely to gratify you. That is a noble sentence, 
and I felt all along sure that all my friends would wish 
me to make a complete work of it, and in that wish, in 
spite of every difficulty, I cordially joined. I hope to 
present to my young countrymen an example of manly 
perseverance. I shall not hide from you that I am made 
by it very old and shaky, my cheeks fallen in, space round 
the eyes ditto ; mouth almost toothless, — a few teeth that 
remain, out of their line, so that a smile is that of a he- 
hippopotamus, — a dreadful old fogie, and you must tell 
Sir Roderick that it is an utter impossibility for me to 
appear in public till I get new teeth, and even then the 
lees I am seen the better." 

Another letter to Agnes from Manyuema gives a 
curious account of the young soko or gorilla a chief had 
lately presented to him : — 

u She sits crouching eighteen inches high, and is the most intelli- 
gent and least mischievous of all the monkeys I have seen. She 
holds out her hand to be lifted and carried, and if refused makes her 
face as in a hitter human weeping, and wrings her bands quite 
humanly, sometimes adding a foot or third hand to make the appeal 
more touching. . . . She knew me at one** as a friend, and when plagued 
by any one always placed her hack to me' for safety, cam.' and sat down 



4 o6 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xx. 

on my mat, decently made a nest of grass and leaves, and covered 
herself with the mat to sleep. I cannot take her with me, though I 
fear that she will die before I return, from people plaguing her. Her 
fine long black hair was beautiful when tended by her mother, who 
was killed. I am mobbed enough alone ; two sokos— she and I — 
would not have got breath. 

" I have to submit to be a gazing-stock. I don't altogether relish 
it, here or elsewhere, but try to get over it good-naturedly, get into 
the most shady spot of the village, and leisurely look at all my 
admirers. When the first crowd begins to go away, I go into my 
lodgings to take what food may be prepared, as coffee, when I have it, 
or roasted maize infusion when I have none. The door is shut, all 
save a space to admit light. It is made of the inner bark of a gigantic 
tree, not a quarter of an inch thick, and slides in a groove behind a 
post on each side of the doorway. When partially open it is supported 
by only one of the posts. Eager heads sometimes crowd the open 
space, and crash goes the thin door, landing a Manyuema beauty on 
the floor. * It was not I,' she gasps out, ' it was Bessie Bell and 
Jeanie Gray that shoved me in, and — ' as she scrambles out of the 
lion's den, ' see they 're laughing ; ' and, fairly out, she joins in the 
merry giggle too. To avoid darkness or being half-smothered, I often 
eat in public, draw a line on the ground, then ' toe the line,' and keep 
them out of the circle. To see me eating with knife, fork, and spoon 
is wonderful. ' See ! — they don't touch their food ! — what oddities, to 
be sure.' . . . 

" Many of the Manyuema women are very pretty ; their hands, 
feet, limbs, and form are perfect. The men are handsome. Compared 
with them the Zanzibar slaves are like London door-knockers, which 
some atrocious iron-founder thought were like lions' faces. The way 
in which these same Zanzibar Mohammedans murder the men and seize 
the women and children makes me sick at heart. It is not slave-trade. 
It is murdering free people to make slaves. It is perfectly indescrib- 
able. Kirk has been working hard to get this murdersome system 
put a stop to. Heaven prosper his noble efforts ! He says in one of 
his letters to me, — ' It is monstrous injustice to compare the free 
people in the interior, living under their own chiefs and laws, with 
what slaves at Zanzibar afterwards become by the abominable system 
which robs them of their manhood. I think it is like comparing the 
anthropologists with their ancestral sokos.' . . . 

"I am grieved to hear of the departure of good Lady Murchison. 
Had I known that she kindly remembered me in her prayers, it would 
have been great encouragement. ... 

" The men sent by Dr. Kirk are Mohammedans, that is, unmitigated 
liars. Musa and his companions are fair specimens of the lower class 
of Moslems. The two head-men remained at Ujiji, to feast on my 
goods, and get pay without work. Seven came to Bambarre, and in 
true Moslem style swore that they were sent by Dr. Kirk to bring me 



1S69-71.] MANYUEMA. 4 °7 

back, not to go with me, if the country were bad or dangerous. For- 
ward they would not go. I read Dr. Kirk's words to them to follow 
wheresoever I led, ' No, by the old liar Mohamed, they were to force 
me back to Zanzibar.' After a superabundance of falsehood, it turned 
out that it all meant only an advance of pay, though they had double 
the Zanzibar wages. I gave it, but had to threaten on the word of an 
Englishman to shoot the ringleaders before I got them to go. They 
all speak of English as men who do not lie. ... I have travelled 
more than most people, and with all sorts of followers. The Christians 
of Kuruman and Kolobeng were out of sight the best I ever had. 
The Makololo, who were very partially christianised, were next best — 
honest, truthful, and brave. Heathen Africans are much superior 
to the Mohamedans, who are the most worthless one can have." 

Towards the end of 1870, before the date of this 
letter, he had so far recovered that, though feeling the 
want of medicine as much as of men, he thought of 
setting out, in order to reach and explore the Lualaba, 
having made a bargain with Mohamad, for £270, to 
bring him to his destination. But now he heard that 
Syde bin Habib, Dugumbe, and others were on the way 
from I jiji, perhaps bringing letters and medicines for 
him. He cannot move till they arrive; another weary 
time. " Sorely am I perplexed, and grieve and mourn." 

The New Year 1871 passes while he is at Bambarre, 
with its prayer that he might be permitted to finish his 
task. At last, on 4th February, ten of the men de- 
spatched to him from the coast arrive, but only to bring 
a fresh disappointment. They were slaves, the property 
of Banians, who were British subjects ! and they brought 
only one letter ! Forty had been lost. There had been 
cholera at Zanzibar, and many of the porters sent by 
Dr. Kirk had died of it. The ten men came with a lie 
in their mouth ; they would not help him, swearing that 
the Consul told them not to go forward, but to force 
Livingstone back. On the 10th they mutinied, and had 
to receive an advance of pay. It was apparent that they 
had l)con instructed by their Banian masters to baffle 
him in every way, so that their slave-trading should not 
be injured by liis disclosures. Their two headmen, Shereef 



4 o8 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xx. 

and Awathe, had refused to come farther than Ujiji, and 
were revelling in his goods there. Dr. Livingstone never 
ceased to lament and deplore that the men who had been 
sent to him were so utterly unsuitable. One of them 
actually formed a plot for his destruction, which was only 
frustrated through his being overheard by one whom 
Livingstone could trust. Livingstone wrote to his friends 
that owing to the inefficiency of the men, he lost two 
years of time, about a thousand pounds in money, had 
some 2000 miles of useless travelling, and was four several 
times subjected to the risk of a violent death. 

At length, having arranged with the men, he sets out 
on 16th February over a most beautiful country, but woe- 
fully difficult to pass through. Perhaps it was hardly a 
less bitter disappointment to be told, on the 25th, that 
the Lualaba flowed west-south-west, so that after all it 
might be the Congo. 

On the 29 th March Livingstone arrived at Nyangwe 
on the banks of the Lualaba. This was the farthest point 
westward that he reached in his last expedition. 

The slave-trade here he finds to be as horrible as in 
any other part of Africa. He is heart -sore for human 
blood. He is threatened, bullied, and almost attacked. 
In some places, however, the rumour spreads that he 
makes no slaves, and he is called " the good one." His 
men are a ceaseless trouble, and for ever mutinying, or. 
otherwise harassing him. And yet he perseveres in his 
old kind way, hoping by kindness to gain influence with 
them. Mohamad's people, he finds, have passed him on 
the west, and thus he loses a number of serviceable articles 
he was to get from them, and all the notes made for 
him of the rivers they had passed. The difficulties and 
discouragements are so great that he wonders whether, 
after all, God is smiling on his work. 

His own men circulate such calumnious reports against 
him that he is unable to get canoes for the navigation of 



1 869-71.] MANYUEMA. 409 

the Lualaba. This leads to weeks and months of weary 
waiting, and yet all in vain ; but afterwards he finds 
some consolation on discovering that the navigation was 
perilous, that a canoe had been lost from the inexperience 
of her crew in the rapids, so that had he been there, 
he should very likely have perished, as his canoe would 
probably have been foremost. 

A change of plan was necessary. On 5 th July he 
offered to Dugumbe £400, with all the goods he had 
at Ujiji besides, for men to replace the Banian slaves, 
and for the other means of going up the Lomame to 
Katanga, then returning and going up Tanganyika to 
Ujiji. Dugumbe took a little time to consult his friends 
before replying to the offer. 

Meanwhile an event occurred of unprecedented horror, 
that showed Livingstone that he could not go to Lomame 
in the company of Dugumbe. Between Dugumbe's 
people and another chief a frightful system of pillage, 
murder, and burning of villages was going on with 
horrible activity. One bright summer morning, loth 
July, when fifteen hundred people, chiefly women, were 
engaged peacefully in marketing in a village on the banks 
of the Lualaba, and while Dr. Livingstone was sauntering 
ab«»nt, a murderous fire was opened on the people, and a 
massacre ensued of such measureless atrocity that he 
could describe it only by saying that it gave him the 
impression of being in hell. The event was so superla- 
tively horrible, and had such an overwhelming influence 
on Livingstone, that we copy at full length the descrip- 
tion of it given in the Last Journals : — 

"Before I had got thirty yards out, the discharge of two guns in 
the middle of the crowd told in*' that slaughter had begun : crowds 
dashed otf from the place, and threw down their wares in confusion, 
and ran. At the same time that the three opened fire on the mass of 
people near the upper end of the market-place, volleys were discharged 
from a party down near the creek on the panic-stricken women, who 
dashed at the canoes. These, some fifty or more, were jammed in the 



4 io DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xx. 

creek, and the men forgot their paddles in the terror that seized all. 
The canoes were not to be got out, for the creek was too small for so 
many ; men and women, wounded by the balls, poured into them, and 
leaped and scrambled into the water, shrieking. A long line of heads 
in the river showed that great numbers struck out for an island a full 
mile off; in going towards it they had to put the left shoulder to a 
current of about two miles an hour ; if they had struck away 
diagonally to the opposite bank, the current would have aided them, 
and, though nearly three miles off, some would have gained land ; as 
it was, the heads above water showed the long line of those that 
would inevitably perish. 

" Shot after shot continued to be fired on the helpless and perish- 
ing. Some of the long line of heads disappeared quietly ; whilst 
other poor creatures threw their arms high, as if appealing to the 
great Father above, and sank. One canoe took in as many as it could 
hold, and all paddled with hands and arms ; three canoes, got out in 
haste, picked up sinking friends, till all went down together, and dis- 
appeared. One man in a long canoe, which could have held forty or 
fifty, had clearly lost his head ; he had been out in the stream before 
the massacre began, and now paddled up the river nowhere, and never 
looked to the drowning. By and by all the heads disappeared ; some 
had turned down stream towards the bank, and escaped. Dugumb6 
put people into one of the deserted vessels to save those in the water, 
and saved twenty-one ; but one woman refused to be taken on board, 
from thinking that she was to be made a slave of; she preferred the 
chance of life by swimming, to the lot of a slave. The Bagenya 
women are expert in the water, as they are accustomed to dive for 
oysters, and those who went down stream may have escaped, but the 
Arabs themselves estimated the loss of life at between 330 and 400 
souls. The shooting-party near the canoes were so reckless, they 
killed two of their own people ; and a Banyamwezi follower, who got 
into a deserted canoe to plunder, fell into the water, went down, then 
came up again, and down to rise no more. 

" After the terrible affair in the water, the party of Tagamoio, who 
was the chief perpetrator, continued to fire on the people there, and 
fire their villages. As I write I hear the loud wails on the left bank 
over those who are there slain, ignorant of their many friends now in 
the depths of Lualaba. Oh, let Thy kingdom come ! No one will ever 
know the exact loss on this bright sultry summer morning ; it gave me 
the impression of being in Hell. All the slaves in the camp rushed at 
the fugitives on land, and plundered them ; women were for hours col- 
lecting and carrying loads of what had been thrown down in terror." 

The remembrance of this awful scene was never effaced 
from Livingstone's heart. The accounts of it published 
in the newspapers at home sent a thrill of horror through 



1869-71.] AfANYUEMA. 411 

the country. It was recorded at great length in a 
despatch to the Foreign Secretary, and indeed, it became 
one of the chief causes of the appointment of a Royal 
Commission to investigate the subject of the African 
slave-trade, and of the mission of Sir Bartle Frere to 
Africa to concert measures for bringing it to an end. 

Dugumbe had not been the active perpetrator of the 
massacre, but he was mixed up with the atrocities that 
had been committed, and Livingstone could have nothing 
to do with him. It was a great trial, for, as the Banian 
men were impracticable, there was nothing for it now but 
to go back to Ujiji, and try to get other men there with 
whom he would repeat the attempt to explore the river. 
For twenty-one months, counting from the period of 
their engagement, he had fed and clothed these men, 
all in vain, and now he had to trudge back forty- 
five days, a journey equal, with all its turnings and 
windings, to six hundred miles. Livingstone was ill, and 
after such an exciting time he would probably have had 
an attack of fever, but for another ailment to which he 
had become more especially subject. The intestinal canal 
had given way, and he was subject to attacks of severe 
internal haemorrhage, one of which came on him now. 1 It 
appeared afterwards that had he gone with Dugumbe^, 
he would have been exposed to an assault in force by the 
Bakuss, as they made an attack on the party and routed 
them, killing two hundred. If Livingstone had been 
among them, he might have fallen in this engagement. So 
again, he saw how present disappointments work for good. 

The journey back to Ujiji, begun 20th July 1871, was 
a very wretched one. Amid the universal desolation 
caused by the very wantonness of the marauders, it was 
impossible for Livingstone to persuade the natives that 
he did not belong to the same set. Ambushes were 

1 His friendfl say that for a considerable time before he had been subject to the 
most grievous pain from bsemonhoids. His sufferings were often excruciating. 



412 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xx. 

set for him and his company in the forest. On the 
8th August they came to an ambushment all prepared, 
but it had been abandoned for some unknown reason. 
By and by, on the same day, a large spear flew past 
Livingstone, grazing his neck ; the native who flung 
it was but ten yards off; the hand of God alone saved 
his life. 1 Farther on, another spear was thrown, which 
missed him by a foot. On the same day, a large tree, to 
which fire had been applied to fell it, came down within 
a yard of him. Thus on one day he was delivered three 
times from impending death. He went on through the 
forest, expecting every minute to be attacked, having no 
fear, but perfectly indifferent whether he should be killed 
or not. He lost all his remaining calico that day, a tele- 
scope, umbrella, and five spears. By and by he was 
prostrated with grievous illness. As soon as he could 
move he went onwards, but he felt as if dying on his feet. 
And he was ill-rigged for the road, for the light French 
shoes to which he was reduced, and which had been cut 
to ease his feet till they wovild hardly hang together, 
failed to protect him from the sharp fragments of quartz 
with which the road was strewed. He was getting near 
to Ujiji, however, where abundance of goods and comforts 
were no doubt safely stowed away for him, and the hope 
of relief sustained him under all his trials. 

At last, on the 23d October, reduced to a living 
skeleton, he reached Ujiji. What was his misery, instead 
of finding the abundance of goods he had expected, to 
learn that the wretch Shereef, to whom they had been 
consigned, had sold off the whole, not leaving one yard of 
calico out of 3000, or one string of beads out of 700 
pounds ! The scoundrel had divined on the Koran, found 
that Livingstone was dead, and would need the goods no 
more. Livingstone had intended, if he could not get men 
at Ujiji to go with him to the Lualaba, to wait there till 

1 The head of this spear is among the Livingstone relics at Newstead Abbey. 



1S69-71.] MANYUEMA. 413 

suitable men should be sent up from the coast ; but he 
had never thought of having to wait in beggary. If any- 
thing could have aggravated the annoyance, it was to see 
Shereef come, without shame, to salute him, and tell him 
on leaving, that he was going to pray ; or to see his slaves 
passing from the market with all the good things his 
property had bought ! Livingstone applied a term to 
him which he reserved for men — black or white — whose 
wickedness made them alike shameless and stupid — he 
was a " moral idiot." 

It was the old story of the traveller who fell among 
thieves that robbed him of all he had; — but where was the 
good Samaritan ? The Government and the Geographical 
Society appeared to have passed by on the other side. But 
the good Samaritan was not so far off as might have been 
thought. One morning Syed bin Majid, an Arab trader, 
came to him with a generous offer to sell some ivory and 
get goods for him ; but Livingstone had the old feeling 
of independence, and having still a few barter goods left, 
which he had deposited with Mohamad bin Saleh before 
going to Manyuema, he declined for the present Syed's 
generous offer. But the kindness of Syed was not the 
only proof that he was not forsaken. Five days after he 
reached Ujiji the good Samaritan appeared from another 
quarter. As Livingstone had been approaching Ujiji 
from the south-west, another white man had been 
approaching it from the east. On 28th October 1871, 
Henry Moreland Stanley, who had been sent to look 
for him by Mr. James Gordon Bennett, junior, of the New 
York Herald newspaper, grasped the hand of David Living- 

e. An angel from heaven could hardly have been more 
welcome. In a moment the sky brightened. Stanley 
was provided with ample stores, and was delighted 
tpplythe wants of the traveller. The sense of sym- 
pathy, the feeling of brotherhood, the blessing of fellow- 
ship, acted like a charm. Four good meals a day, instead 



4 i4 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xx. 

of the spare and tasteless food of the country, made a 
wonderful change on the outer man ; and in a few days 
Livingstone was himself again — hearty, and happy, and 
hopeful as before. 

Before closing this chapter and entering on the last 
two years of Livingstone's life, which have so lively an 
interest of their own, it will be convenient to glance at the 
contributions to natural science which he continued to 
make to the very end. In doing this, we avail ourselves 
of a very tender and Christian tribute to the memory of 
his early friend, which Professor Owen contributed to the 
Quarterly Review, April 1875, after the publication of 
Livingstone's Last Journals. 

Mr. Owen appears to have been convinced by Living- 
stone's reasoning and observations, that the Nile sources 
were in the Bangweolo watershed — a supposition now 
ascertained to have been erroneous. But what chiefly 
attracted and delighted the great naturalist was the 
many interesting notices of plants and animals scattered 
over the Last Journals. These Journals contain im- 
portant contributions both to economic and physiological 
botany. In the former department, Livingstone makes 
valuable observations on plants useful in the arts, such 
as gum-copal, papyrus, cotton, india-rubber, and the palm- 
oil tree ; while in the latter, his notices of " carnivorous 
plants," which catch insects that probably yield nourish- 
ment to the plant, of silicified wood and the like, show 
how carefully he watched all that throws light on the 
life and changes of plants. In zoology he was never 
weary of observing, especially when he found a strange- 
looking animal with strange habits. Spiders, ants, and 
bees of unknown varieties were brought to light, but the 
strangest of his new acquaintances were among the fishy 
tribes. He found fish that made long excursions on land, 
thanks to the wet grass through which they would 
wander for miles, thus proving that " a fish out of water" 



1869-71.] MAXYUEMA. 415 

is not always the best symbol for a man out of his 
element. There were fish too that burrowed in the 
earth ; but most remarkable at first sight were the fish 
that appeared to bring forth their young by ejecting them 
from their mouths. If Bruce or Du Chaillu had made 
such a statement, remarks Professor Owen, what ridicule 
would they not have encountered ! But Livingstone was 
not the man to make a statement of what he had not 
ascertained, or to be content until he had found a scientific 
explanation of it. He found that in the branchial open- 
ings of the fish, there occur bags or pouches, on the same 
principle as the pouch of the opossum, where the young 
may be lodged for a time for protection or nourishment, 
and that when the creatures are discharged through the 
mouth into the water, it is only from a temporary cradle 
where they were probably enjoying repose, beyond the 
reach of enemies. 

Perhaps the greatest of Livingstone's scientific dis- 
coveries during this journey was that " of a physical 
condition of the earth's surface in elevated tracts of the 
great continent, unknown before." The bogs or earth- 
sponges, that from his first acquaintance with them gave 
him so much trouble, and at last proved the occasion of 
his death, were not only remarkable in themselves, but 
interesting as probably explaining the annual inundations 
of most of the rivers. Wherever there was a plain sloping 
ids a narrow opening in hills or higher ground, there 
were the conditions for an African sponge. The vegeta- 
tion falls down and rots, and forms a rich black loam, 

ing often, two or three feet thick, on a bed of pure 
river sand. The early rains turn the vegetation into slush, 
and fill the pools. The later rains, finding the pools 
already full, run off to the rivers, and form the inundation. 
The first rains occur south of the equator when the sun 
goes vertically over any spot, and the second or greater 
rains happen in his course north again. This, certainly, 



416 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. ' [chap. xx. 

was the case as observed on the Zambesi and Shire, and 
taking the different times for the sun's passage north of 
the equator, it explained the inundations of the Nile. 

Such notices show that in his love of nature, and in 
his careful observation of all her agencies and processes, 
Livingstone, in his last journeys, was the same as ever. 
He looked reverently on all plants and animals, and on 
the solid earth in all its aspects and forms, as the creatures 
of that same God whose love in Christ it was his heart's 
delight to proclaim. His whole life, so varied in its out- 
ward employments, yet so simple and transparent in its 
one great object, was ruled by the conviction that the 
God of nature and the God of revelation were one. 
While thoroughly enjoying his work as a naturalist, 
Professor Owen frankly admits that it was but a second- 
ary object of his life. " Of his primary work the record 
is on high, and its imperishable fruits remain on earth. 
The seeds of the Word of Life implanted lovingly, with 
pains and labour, and above all with faith ; — the out-door 
scenes of the simple Sabbath service ; the testimony 
of Him to whom the worship was paid, given in terms of 
such simplicity as were fitted to the comprehension of 
the dark-skinned listeners, — these seeds will not have 
been scattered by him in vain. Nor have they been sown 
in words alone, but in deeds, of which some part of the 
honour will redound to his successors. The teaching by 
forgiveness of injuries, — by trust, however unworthy the 
trusted, — by that confidence which imputed his own 
noble nature to those whom he would win, — by the 
practical enforcement of the fact that a man might promise 
and perform — might say the thing he meant, — of this 
teaching by good deeds, as well as by the words of truth 
and love, the successor who treads in the steps of Living- 
stone, and accomplishes the discovery he aimed at, and 
pointed the way to, will assuredly reap the benefit." 1 

1 Quarterly Review, April 1875, pp. 498, 499. 



1871-72.J LIVINGSTONE AXD STANLEY. 4 r 7 



CHAPTER XXL 

LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY. 
a.d. 1871-1872. 

Mr. Cordon Bennett sends Stanley in search of Livingstone — Stanley at 
Zanzibar — Starts for Ujiji — Reaches Unyanyembe — Dangerous illness — 
War between Arabs and natives — Narrow escape of Stanley— Approach to 
Ujiji— Meeting with Livingstone — Livingstone's story — Stanley's news — 
Livingstone's goods and men at Bagamoio — Stanley's account of Livingstone 
— Refutation of foolish and calumnious charges— They go to the north of the 
lake— Livingstone resolves not to go home, but to get fresh men and return 
to the sources— Letter to Agnes — to Sir Thomas Maclear — The travellers go 
t<» Unyanyembe— More plundering of stores— Stanley leaves for Zanzibar — 
1 lev's bitterness of heart at parting — Livingstone's intense gratitude to 
Stanley— He intrusts his Journal to him, and commissions him to send 
servants and stores from Zanzibar — Stanley's journey to the coast— Finds 
Search Expedition at Bagamoio— Proceeds to England — Stanley's reception — 
Unpleasant feelings — Eclaircissement — England grateful to Stanley. 

Tin-: meeting of Stanley and Livingstone at Ujiji was as 
unlikely an occurrence as could have happened, and, along 
with many of the earlier events in Livingstone's life, serves 
to si io\v how wonderfully an Unseen Hand shaped and 
guarded his path. Neither Stanley nor the gentleman 
who sent him had any personal interest in Livingstone. 
Mr, Bennett admitted frankly that he was moved neither 
by friendship nor philanthropy, but by regard to his 
business and interest as a journalist. The object of a 
journal was to furnish its readers with the news which 
they desired to know ; the readers of the New York 
Herald desired to know about Livingstone ; as a jour- 
nalist, it was his business to find out and tell them. Mr. 

2 D 



4 tS DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. XXI - 

Bennett determined that, cost what it might, he would 
find out, and give the news to his readers. These were 
the very unromantic notions, with an under-current pro- 
bably of better quality, that were passing through his 
mind at Paris, on the 16th October 1869, when he sent 
a telegram to Madrid, summoning Henry M. Stanley, 
one of the " own correspondents" of his paper, to "come 
to Paris on important business." On his arrival, Mr. 
Bennett asked him bluntly, " Where do you think Living- 
stone is ? " The correspondent could not tell — could not 
even tell whether he was alive. " Well," said Mr. Bennett, 
" I think he is alive, and that he may be found, and I 
am going to send you to find him." Mr. Stanley was to 
have whatever money should be found necessary ; only he 
was to find Livingstone. It is very mysterious that he 
was not to go straight to Africa — he was to visit Con- 
stantinople, Palestine, and Egypt first. Then, from India, 
he was to go to Zanzibar ; get into the interior, and find 
him if alive ; obtain all possible news of his discoveries ; 
and if he were dead, get the fact fully verified, find out 
the place of his burial, and try to obtain possession of his 
bones, that they might find a resting-place at home. 

It was not till January 1871 that Stanley reached 
Zanzibar. To organise an expedition into the interior 
was no easy task for one who had never before set foot 
in Africa. To lay all his plans without divulging his 
object would, perhaps, have been more difficult if it had 
ever entered into any man's head to connect the New 
York Herald with a search for Livingstone. But indomi- 
table vigour and perseverance succeeded, and by the end 
of February and beginning of March, one hundred and 
ninety-two persons in all had started in five caravans 
at short intervals from Bagamoio for Lake Tanganyika, 
two white men being of the party besides Stanley, with 
horses, donkeys, bales, boats, boxes, rifles, etc., to an 
amount that made the leader of the expedition ask 



1871-72.] LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY. 419 

himself how such an enormous weight of material could 
ever be carried into the heart of Africa. 

The ordinary and extraordinary risks and troubles of 
travel in these parts fell to Mr. Stanley's lot in unstinted 
abundance. But when Unyanyembe "was reached, the 
half-way station to Ujiji, troubles more than extraordinary 
befell. First, a terrible attack of fever that deprived him 
of his senses for a fortnight. Then came a worse trouble. 
The Arabs were at war with a chief Mirambo, and Stanley 
and his men, believing they would help to restore peace 
more speedily, sided with the Arabs. At first they were 
apparently victorious, but immediately after, part of the 
Arabs were attacked on their way- home by Mirambo, who 
lay in ambush for them, and were defeated. Great con- 
sternation prevailed. The Arabs retreated in panic, 
leaving Stanley, who was ill, to the tender mercies of the 
foe. Stanley, however, managed to escape. After this 
experience of the Arabs in war, he resolved to discontinue 
his alliance with them. As the usual way to Ujiji was 
blocked, he determined to try a route more to the south. 
But his people had forsaken him. One of his two English 
companions was dead, the other was sick and had to be 
sent back. Mirambo was still threatening. It was not 
till the 20th September that new men were engaged by 
Stanley, and his party were ready to move. 

They marched slowly, with various adventures and 
difficulties, until, by Mr. Stanley's reckoning, on the 
10th November (but by Livingstone's earlier), they were 
dose on Ujiji. Their approach created an extraordinary 
excitement. First one voice saluted them in English, 
then another; these were the salutations of Livingstone's 

ints. Siisi and Chimin. By and by the Doctor hini- 

Belf appeared. " As I advanced slowly towards him," 

Mr. Stanley, "I noticed he was pale, looked 

wearied, had a grey beard, wore a bluish cap with a 

faded gold band round it, had on a red-sleeved waist 



4 2o DA V1D LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xxi. 

and a pair of grey tweed trousers. I would h.ave run to 
him, only I was a coward in the presence of such a mob, 
— would have embraced him, only he, being an English- 
man, I did not know how he would receive me ; so I did 
what cowardice and false pride suggested was the best 
thing — walked deliberately to him, took off my hat and 
said, ' Dr. Livingstone, I presume ? ' ' Yes,' said he, with 
a kind smile, lifting his cap slightly. I replace my hat 
on my head, and he puts on his cap, and we both grasp 
hands, and I then say aloud — ' I thank God, Doctor, I 
have been permitted to see you.' He answered, ' I feel 
thankful that I am here to welcome you.' " 

The conversation began — but Stanley could not re- 
member what it was. " I found myself gazing at him, 
conning the wonderful man at whose side I now sat in 
Central Africa. Every hair of his head and beard, every 
wrinkle of his face, the wanness of his features, and the 
slightly wearied look he bore, were all imparting intelli- 
gence to me — the knowledge I craved for so much ever 
since I heard the words, ' Take what you want, but find 
Livingstone.' What I saw was deeply interesting intel- 
ligence to me and unvarnished truth. I was listening 
and reading at the same time. What did these dumb 
witnesses relate to me ? 

" Oh, reader, had you been at my side on this day in 
Ujiji, how eloquently could be told the nature of this 
man's work ! Had you been there but to see and hear ! 
, His lips gave me the details ; lips that never lie. I 
cannot repeat what he said; I was too much engrossed 
to take my note-book out, and begin to stenograph his 
story. He had so much to say that he began at the end, 
seemingly oblivious of the fact that five or six years had 
to be accounted for. But his account was oozing out ; it 
was growing fast into grand proportions — into a most 
marvellous history of deeds." 

And Stanley, too, had wonderful things to tell the 



iS 7 i-;2.] LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY. 421 

Doctor. " The news," says Livingstone, "lie had to tell 

who had heen two full years without any tidings 

from Europe made my whole frame thrill. The terrible 

fate that had befallen France, the telegraphic cables suc- 

- fully laid in the Atlantic, the election of General 
Grant, the death of good Lord Clarendon, my constant 
friend ; the proof that Her Majesty's Government had 
not forgotten me in voting £'1000 for supplies, and many 
other points of interest, revived emotions that had lain 
dormant in Manyuema." As Stanley went on, Living- 
stone kept saying, " You have brought me new life — you 
have brought me new life." 

There was one piece of news brought by Stanley to 
Livingstone that was far from satisfactory. At Baga- 
moio, on the coast, Stanley had found a caravan with 
supplies for Livingstone that had been despatched from 
Zanzibar three or four months before, the men in charge 
of which had been lying idle there all that time on the 
pretext that they were waiting for carriers. A letter- 
bag was also lying at Bagamoio, although several 
caravans for Ujiji had left in the meantime. On hearing 
that the Consul at Zanzibar, Dr. Kirk, was coming to 
the neighbourhood to hunt, the party at last made off. 
( Overtaking them at Unyanyembe, Stanley took charge 

of Livingstone's stores, but was not able to bring them 

© © 

on : only he compelled the letter-carrier to come on to 
Ujiji with his bag. At what time, but for Stanley, 
Livingstone would have got his letters, which after all 
were a year on the way, he could not have told. For his 
stores, or such fragments of them as might remain, he 
had afterwards to trudge all the way to Unyanyembe. 
His letters conveyed the news that Government had 
d a thousand pounds for his relief, and were besides 
to pay him a salary. 1 The unpleasant feeling he had had 

1 The intimation of salary WBM premature. Livingstone got a pension of £300 
afterwards, which lasted only for a year and a half. 



422 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xxi. 

so long as to his treatment by Government was thus at 
last somewhat relieved. But the goods that had lain in 
neglect at Bagamoio, and were now out of reach at 
Unyanyembe, represented one-half the Government grant, 
and would probably be squandered, like his other goods, 
before he could reach them. 

The impression made on Stanley by Livingstone was 
remarkably vivid, and the portrait drawn by the American 
will be recognised as genuine by every one who knows 
what manner of man Livingstone was : — 

"I defy any one to be in his society long without thoroughly 
fathoming him, for in him there is no guile, and what is apparent on 
the surface is the thing that is in him. . . . Dr. Livingstone is about 
sixty years old, though after he was restored to health he looked like a 
man who had not passed his fiftieth year. His hair has a brownish 
colour yet, but is here and there streaked with grey lines over the 
temples ; his beard and moustaches are very grey. His eyes, which 
are hazel, are remarkably bright ; he has a sight keen as a hawk's. 
His teeth alone indicate the weakness of age ; the hard fare of Lunda 
has made havoc in their lines. His form, which soon assumed a 
stoutish appearance, is a little over the ordinary height, with the 
slightest possible bow in the shoulders. When walking he has a firm 
but heavy tread, like that of an overworked or fatigued man. He is 
accustomed to wear a naval cap with a semicircular peak, by which he 
has been identified throughout Africa. His dress, when first I saw him, 
exhibited traces of patching and repairing, but was scrupulously clean. 

" I was led to believe that Livingstone possessed a splenetic, mis- 
anthropic temper ; some have said that he is garrulous ; that he is 
demented ; that he has utterly changed from the David Livingstone 
whom people knew as the reverend missionary; that he takes no 
notes or observations but such as those which no other person could 
read but himself, and it was reported, before I proceeded to Africa, that 
he was married to an African princess. 

" I respectfully beg to differ with all and each of the above 
statements. I grant he is not an angel ; but he approaches to that 
being as near as the nature of a living man will allow. I never saw 
any spleen or misanthropy in him : as for being garrulous, Dr. Living- 
stone is quite the reverse; he is reserved, if anything; and to the man 
who says Dr. Livingstone is changed, all I can say is, that he never 
could have known him, for it is notorious that the Doctor has a fund of 
quiet humour, which he exhibits at all times when he is among friends." 
[After repudiating the charge as to his notes and observations, Mr. 
Stanley continues :] " As to the report of his African marriage, it is 



1871-72] LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY. 423 

unnecessary to say more than that it is untrue, and it is utterly 
beneath a gentleman even to hint at such a thing in connection with 
the name of Dr. Livingstone. 

" You may take any point in Dr. Livingstone's character, and 
analyse it carefully, and 1 would challenge any man to find a 
fault in it. . . . His gentleness never forsakes him; his hopefulness 
never deserts him. No harassing anxieties, distraction of mind, long 
separation from home and kindred, can make him complain. He 
thinks * all will come out right at last;' he has such faith in the good- 
ie'-- of Providence. The sport of adverse circumstances, the plaything 
of the miserable beings sent to him from Zanzibar — he has been baffled 
and worried, even almost to the grave, yet be will not desert the charge 
imposed upon him by his friend Sir Roderick Murchison. To the 
stern dictates of duty, alone, has he sacrificed his home and ease, the 
pleasures, refinements, and luxuries of civilised life. His is the Spartan 
heroism, the inflexibility of the Roman, the enduring resolution of the 
Anglo-Saxon — never to relinquish his work, though his heart yearns 
for home ; never to surrender his obligations until he can write finis 
to his work. 

'• There is a good-natured abandon about Livingstone which was 
not lost on me. AVhenever he began to laugh, there was a contagion 
about it, that compelled me to imitate him. It was such a laugh as 
Teufelsdrockh's, — a laugh of the whole man from head to heel. If he 
told a story, he related it in such a way as to convince one of its 
truthfulness; his face was so lit up by the sly fun it contained, that I 
Wat sure the story was worth relating, and worth listening to. 

" Another thing that specially attracted my attention was his wonder- 
fully retentive memory. If we remember the many years he has spent 
in Africa, deprived of books, we may well think it an uncommon memory 
that can recite whole poems from Byron, Burns, Tennyson, Longfellow, 
Whittier, and Lowell. . . . 

■■ His religion is not of the theoretical kind, but it is a constant, 
it, sincere practice. It is neither demonstrative nor loud, but 
manifests itself in a quiet, practical way, and is always at work. 
It is not aggressive, which sometimes is troublesome if not impertinent. 
In him religion exhibits its loveliest features; it governs his conduct 
not only towards his servants but towards the natives, the bigoted 
Mohammedans, and all who come in contact with him. "Without it, 
Livingstone, with his ardent temperament, his enthusiasm, his high 
spirit and courage, must have become uncompanionable, and a hard 
master. Religion has tamed him, and made him a Christian gentle- 
man; the crude and wilful have been refined and subdued; religion 
has made him the most companionable of men and indulgent of masters 
— a man whose society is pleasurable to a degree. . . . 

" From being thwarted and hated in every possible way by the 
Arabs and half-castes upon his first arrival at Ujiji, he has, through his 
uniform kindness aud mild, pleasant temper, won all hearts. 1 observed 



424 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xxi. 

that universal respect was paid to him. Even the Mohammedans never 
passed his house without calling to pay their compliments, and to 
say, ' The blessing of God rest on you ! ' Each Sunday morning he 
gathers his little flock around him, and reads prayers and a chapter 
from the Bible, in a natural, unaffected, and sincere tone ; and after- 
wards delivers a short address in the Kisawahili language, about the 
subject read to them, which is listened to with evident interest and 
attention." 

It was agreed that the two travellers should make a 
short excursion to the north end of Lake Tanganyika, to 
ascertain whether the lake had an outlet there. This 
was done, but it was found that instead of flowing out, the 
river Lusize flowed into the lake, so that the notion that 
the lake discharged itself northwards turned out to be an 
error. Meanwhile the future arrangements of Dr. Living- 
stone were matter of anxious consideration. One thing was 
fixed and certain from the beginning : Livingstone would 
not go home with Stanley. Much though his heart yearned 
for home and family — all the more that he had just 
learned that his son Thomas had had a dangerous accident, 
— and much though he needed to recruit his strength 
and nurse his ailments, he would not think of it while 
his work remained unfinished. To turn back to those 
dreary sponges, sleep in those flooded plains, encounter 
anew that terrible pneumonia which was " worse than ten 
fevers/' or that distressing haemorrhage which added 
extreme weakness to extreme agony — might have turned 
any heart ; Livingstone never flinched from it. What a 
reception awaited him if he had gone home to England ! 
What welcome from friends and children, what triumphal 
cheers from all the great Societies and savants, what 
honours from all who had honours to confer, what oppor- 
tunity of renewing efforts to establish missions and 
commerce, and to suppress the slave -traffic ! Then he 
might return to Africa in a year, and finish his work. 
If Livingstone had taken this course, no whisper would 
have been heard against it. The nobility of his soul 



1S71-72.] LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY. 425 

never rose higher, his utter abandonment of self, his 
entire devotion to duty, his right honourable determina- 
tion fco work while it was called to-day never shone more 
brightly than when he declined all Stanley's entreaties 
to return home, and set his face steadfastly to go back to 
the bogs of the watershed. He writes in his Journal: 
•• My daughter Agnes says, ' Much as I wish you to come 
home. I had rather that you finished your work to your 
own satisfaction, than return merely to gratify me/ 
Rightly and nobly said, my darling Nannie ; vanity 
whispers pretty loudly, * She is a chip of the old block.' 
My blessing on her and all the rest." 

After careful consideration of various plans, it was 
agreed that he should go to Unyanyembe, accompanied 
by Stanley, who would supply him there with abundance 
of goods, and who would then hurry down to the coast, 
organise a new expedition composed of fifty or sixty 
faithful men to be sent on to Unyanyembe, by whom 
Livingstone would be accompanied back to Bangweolo 
and the sources, and. then to Rua, until his work should 
be completed, and he might go home in peace. 

A few extracts from Livingstone's letters will show us 
how he felt at this remarkable crisis. To Agnes : — 

11 Tanganyika, 18th November 1871. — [After detailing his troubles in 
Manyuema, the loss of all his goods at Ujiji, and the generous offer of 
Syed hin Majid, he continues:] Next I heard of an Englishman being 
at Unyanyembe with boats, etc., hut who lie was, none could tell. At 
last one of my people came running out of breath and shouted, 'An 
Englishman coming:' and off he darted back again to meet him. An 
American flag at the head of a large caravan showed tin 1 nationality 
of the stranger. Baths, tents, saddles, hig kettles, showed that he was 
not a poor Lazarus like me. He turned out to he Henry M. Stanley, 
travelling correspondent to the New York Herald, sent specially to find 
out if I were really alive, and, if dead, to bring home my hones. He 
had brought abundance of goods at great expense, hut the fighting 

referred to delayed him, and lie had to leave a great part at Unyanyembe. 

To all he had 1 was made tree. [In a later letter, Livingstone says: 
• He laid all he had at my service, divided his clothes into two heaps, 

and pressed one heap upon mej then his medicine-chest; then his 



426 DAVID LIVINGSTONE [chap. xxi. 

goods and everything he had, and to coax my appetite, often cooked 
dainty dishes with his own hand.'] He came with the true American 
characteristic generosity. The tears often started into my eyes on 
every fresh proof of kindness. My appetite returned, and I ate three 
or four times a day, instead of scanty meals morning and evening. I 
soon felt strong, and never wearied with the strange news of Europe 
and America he told. The tumble-down of the French Empire was 
like a dream. . . ." 

A long letter to his friends Sir Thomas Maclear and 
Mr. Mann of the' same date goes over his travels in 
Manyuema, his many disasters, and then his wonderful 
meeting with Mr. Stanley at XJjiji. Speaking of the 
unwillingness of the natives to believe in the true 
purpose of his journey, he says : — " They all treat me 
with respect, and are very much afraid of being written 
against ; but they consider the sources of the Nile to be a 
sham ; the true object of my being sent is to see their 
odious system of slaving, and if indeed my disclosures 
should lead to the suppression of the East Coast slave-trade, 
I would esteem that as afar greater feat than the discovery 
of all the sources together. It is awful, but I cannot 
speak of the slaving for fear of appearing guilty of 
exaggerating. It is not trading ; it is murdering for 
captives to be made into slaves." His account of himself 
in the journey from Nyangwe is dreadful : — " I was near 
a fourth lake on this central line, and only eighty miles 
from Lake Lincoln on our west, in fact almost in sight 
of the geographical end of my mission, when I was 
forced to return [through the misconduct of his men] 
between 400 and 500 miles. A sore heart, made still 
sorer by the sad scenes I had seen of man's inhumanity 
to man, made this march a terrible tramp — the sun 
vertical, and the sore heart reacting on the physical 
frame. I was in pain nearly every step of the way, and 
arrived a mere ruckle of bones to find myself destitute." 
In speaking of the impression made by Mr. Stanley's 
kindness : — " I am as cold and non-demonstrative as we 



1871-72.] LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY. 427 

islanders are reputed to be, but this kindness was over- 
whelming. Here was the good Samaritan and no mistake. 
Never was I more hard pressed ; never was help more 
welcome." 

During thirteen months Stanley received no fewer 
than ten parcels of letters and papers sent up by Mr. 
Webb, American Consul at Zanzibar, while Livingstone 
received but one. This was an additional ground for faith 
in the efficiency of Stanley's' arrangements. 

The journey to Unyanyembe was somewhat delayed 
by an attack of fever which Stanley had at Ujiji, and it 
was not till the 27th December that the travellers set 
out. On the way Stanley heard of the death of his 
English attendant Shaw, whom he had left unwell. On 
the 18th of February 1872 they reached Unyanyembe, 
where a new chapter of the old history unfolded itself. 
The survivor of two headmen employed by Ludha Damji 
had been plundering Livingstone's stores, and nad broken 
open the lock of Mr. Stanley's store-room and plundered 
him likewise. Notwithstanding, Mr. Stanley was able to 
give Livingstone a large amount of calico, beads, brass 
wire, copper sheets, a tent, boat, bath, cooking- pots, 
medicine-chest, tools, books, paper, medicines, cartridges 
and shot. This, with four flannel shirts that had come 
from Agnes, and two pairs' of boots, gave him the feeling 
of being quite set up. 

On the 14th of March Mr. Stanley left Livingstone 
for Zanzibar, having received from him a commission to 
send him up fifty trusty men, and some additional stores. 
Mr. Stanley had authority to draw from Dr. Kirk the 
remaining half of the Government grant, but lest it 
should have been expended, he was furnished with a 
cheque for 5000 rupees on Dr. Livingstone's agents at 
Bombay. He was likewise intrusted with a large folio 
Ms. volume containing his journals from his arrival at 
Zanzibar, 28th January 18GG to February 20, 1872, 



423 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xxi. 

written out with all his characteristic care and beauty. 
Another instruction had been laid upon him. If he 
should find another set of slaves on the way to him, he 
was to send them back, for Livingstone would on no 
account expose himself anew to the misery, risk, and 
disappointment he had experienced from the kind of 
men that had compelled him to turn back at Nyangwe. 

Dr. Livingstone's last act before Mr. Stanley left him 
was to write his letters — twenty for Great Britain, six 
for Bombay, two for New York, and one for Zanzibar. 
The two for New York were for Mr. Bennett of the New 
York Herald, by whom Stanley had been sent to Africa. 

Mr. Stanley has freely unfolded to us the bitterness 
of his heart in parting from Livingstone. " My days 
seem to have been spent in an Elysian field ; otherwise, 
why should I so keenly regret the near approach of the 
parting hour ? Have I not been battered by successive 
fevers, prostrate with agony day after day lately ? Have 
I not raved and stormed in madness ? Have I not 
clenched my fists in fury, and fought with the wild 
strength of despair when in delirium ? Yet, I regret to 
surrender the pleasure I have felt in this man's society, 
though so dearly purchased. . . . March llih. — We had 
a sad breakfast together. I could not eat, my heart was 
too full ; neither did my companion seem to have an 
appetite. We found something to do which kept us 
longer together. At eight o'clock I was not gone, and I 
had thought to have been off at five a.m. . . . We 
walked side by side ; the men lifted their voices in a song. 
I took long looks at Livingstone, to impress his features 
thoroughly on my memory. . . . ■ Now, my dear Doctor, 
the best friends must part. You have come far enough ; 
let me beg of you to turn back.' ' Well,' Livingstone 
replied, ' I will say this to you : You have done what few 
men could do, — far better than some great travellers 
I know. And I am grateful to you for what you have 






1S71-72.] LiriXGSTOXE AND STANLEY, 429 

done for me. God guide you safe home, and bless you, 
my friend.' — ' And may God bring you safe back to us all, 
mv dear friend. Farewell!" — 'Farewell/. . . My friendly 
reader, I wrote the above extracts in my Diary on the 
evening of each day. I look at them now after six 
months have passed away ; yet I am not ashamed of 
them ; my eyes feel somewhat dimmed at the recollec- 
tion of the parting. I dared not erase, nor modify what 
I had penned, while my feelings were strong. God 
grant that if ever you take to travelling in Africa you 
will get as noble and true a man for your companion 
as David Livingstone ! For four months and four days I 
lived with him in the same house, or in the same boat, 
or in the same tent, and I never found a fault in him. I 
am a man of a quick temper, and often without sufficient 
cause, I daresay, have broken the tie3 of friendship ; 
but with Livingstone I never had cause for resent- 
ment, but each day's life with him added to my admira- 
tion for him." 

If Stanley's feeling for Livingstone was thus at the 
warmest temperature, Livingstone's sense of the service 
done to him by Stanley was equally unqualified. What- ' 
ever else he might be or might not be, he had proved 
a true friend to him. He had risked his life in the 
attempt to reach him, had been delighted to share with 
him every comfort he possessed, and to leave with him 
ample stores of all that might be useful to him in his 
effort to finish his work. Whoever may have been to 
blame for it, it is certain that Livingstone had been 
afflicted for years, and latterly worried almost to death, 
by the inefficiency and worthlossnoss of the men sent 
to serve him. In Stanley he found one whom he could 
trust implicitly to do everything that zeal and energy 
could contrive in order to find him efficient men and 
otherwise carry out liis plans. It was Stanley therefore 
whom he commissioned to send him up men from 



430 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xxi. 

Zanzibar. It was Stanley to whom lie intrusted his 
Journal and other documents. Stanley had been his 
confidential friend for four months — the only white man 
to whom he had talked for six years. It was matter 
of life and death to Livingstone to be supplied for this 
concluding piece of work far better than he had been for 
years back. What man in his senses would have failed 
in these circumstances to avail himself to the utmost of 
the services of one who had shown himself so efficient ; 
would have put him aside to fall back on others, albeit 
his own countrymen, who, with all their good- will, had 
not been able to save him from robbery, beggary, and a 
half- broken heart ? 

Stanley's journey from Unyanyembe to Bagamoio was 
a perpetual struggle against hostile natives, flooded 
roads, slush, mire, and water, roaring torrents, ants and 
mosquitos, or, as he described it, the ten plagues of 
Egypt. On his reaching Bagamoio on the 6th May, he 
found a new surprise. A white man dressed in flannels 
and helmet appeared, and as he met Stanley congratu- 
lated him on his splendid success. It was Lieutenant 
Henn, R.N., a member of the Search Expedition which 
the Royal Geographical Society and others had sent out 
to look for Livingstone. The resolution to organise such 
an expedition was taken after news had come to England 
of the war between the Arabs and the natives at Un- 
yanyembe, stopping the communication with Ujiji, and 
rendering it impossible, as it was thought, for Mr. 
Stanley to get to Livingstone's relief. The expedition 
had been placed under command of Lieutenant Dawson, 
R.N., with Lieutenant Henn as second, and was joined 
by the Rev. Charles New, a missionary from Mombasa, 
and Mr. W^ Oswell Livingstone, youngest son of the 
Doctor. Stanley's arrival at Bagamoio had been pre- 
ceded by that of some of his men, who brought the news 
that Livingstone had been found and relieved. On 



1871-72] LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY. 431 

bearing this, Lieutenant Dawson hurried to Zanzibar to 
see Dr. Kirk, and resigned his command. Lieutenant 
Henn Boon after followed his example by resigning too. 
They thought that as Dr. Livingstone had been relieved 
there was no need for their ofoino- on. Mr. New likewise 
declined to proceed. Mr, W. Oswell Livingstone was 
thus left alone, at first full of the determination to go on 
to his lather with the men whom Stanley was providing ; 
but owing to the state of his health, and under the 
advice of Dr. Kirk, he too declined to accompany the 
expedition, so that the men from Zanzibar proceeded to 
Unyanyembe alone. 

On the 29th of May, Stanley, with Messrs. Henn, 
Livingstone, New, and .Morgan, departed in the "Africa" 
from Zanzibar, and in due time reached Europe. 

It was deeply to be regretted that an enterprise so 
beautiful and so entirely successful as Mr. Stanley's 
should have been in some degree marred by ebullitions 
of feeling little in harmony with the very joyous event. 
The leaders of the English Search Expedition and 
their friends felt, as they expressed it, that the wind 
had been taken out of their sails. They could not but 
rejoice that Livingstone had been found and relieved, but 
it was a bitter thought that they had had no hand in 
the process. It was galling to their feelings as English- 
men that the brilliant service had been done by a stranger, 
a newspaper correspondent, a citizen of another country. 
On a small scale that spirit of national jealousy showed 
itself, which on a wider arena has sometimes endangered 
the relations of England and America. 

When Stanley reached England, it was not t<> be 
overwhelmed with gratitude. At first the Royal Geo- 
graphical Society received him coldly. Instead of his 
finding Livingstone, it was surmised that Livingstone 
had found him. Strange things were said of him at the 
British Association at Brighton. The daily press actually 



432 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xxi. 

challenged his truthfulness ; some of the newspapers 
affected to treat his whole story as a myth. Stanley says 
frankly that this reception gave a tone of bitterness to 
his book — How I Found Livingstone — which it would not 
have had if he had understood the real state of things. 
But the heart of the nation was sound ; the people be- 
lieved in Stanley, and appreciated his service. At last 
the mists cleared away, and England acknowledged its 
debt to the American. The Geographical Society gave 
him the right hand of fellowship "with a warmth and 
generosity never to be forgotten." The President apolo- 
gised for the words of suspicion he had previously used. 
Her Majesty the Queen presented Stanley with a special 
token of her regard. Unhappily, in the earlier stages of 
the affair, wounds had been inflicted which are not likely 
ever to be wholly healed. Words were spoken on both 
sides which cannot be recalled. But the great fact 
remains, and will be written on the page of history, that 
Stanley did a noble service to Livingstone, earning 
thereby the gratitude of England and of the civilised 
world. 



1S72 73-] FROM UNYANYEMBR TO BANGWEOLO. 433 



CHAPTER XXII. 

FROM UNYANYEMBE TO BANGWEOLO. 

A.D. 1872-1873. 

Livingstone's long wait at Unyanyembe— His plan of operations — His fifty-ninth 
birthday— Renewal of self-dedication— Letters to Agnes — to New York 
Herald — Hardness of the African battle — Waverings of judgment, whether 
Lualaba was the Nile or the Congo — Extracts from Journal— Gleams of 
humour — Natural history — His distress on hearing of the death of Sir 
Roderick Murchison— Thoughts on mission-work — Arrival of his escort — 
His happiness in his new men — He starts from Unyanyembe — Illness — Great 
amount of rain — Near Bangweolo— Incessant moisture — Flowers of the forest 
— Taking of observations regularly prosecuted — Dreadful state of the country 
from rain— Hunger — Furious attack of ants — Greatness of Livingstone's 
sufferings — Letters to Sir Thomas Maclear, Mr. Young, his brother, and Agnes 
— His sixtieth birthday — Great weakness in April — Sunday services and ob- 
servations continued — Increasing illness — The end approaching — Last written 
words — Last day of his travels — He reaches Chitambo's village, in Ilala— Is 
found on his knees dead, on morning of 1st May — Courage and affection of his 
attendants— His body embalmed — Carried towards shore — Dangers and suf- 
ferings during the march — The party meet Lieutenant Cameron at Un- 
yanyembe — Determine to go on — Ruse at Kasekera— Death of Dr. Dillon — The 
party reach Bagamoio, and the remains are placed on board a cruiser — The 
rch Expeditions frmn England — to East Coast under Cameron — to West 
(oast under Grandy— Explanation of Expeditions by Sir Henry Rawlinson— 
Livingstone's remains brought to England — Examined by Sir W. Fergusson and 
others— Buried in Westminster Abbey — Inscription on slab — Livingstone's 
wish for a forest grave — Lines from Punch — Tributes to his memory — Sir 
Lartlc Frere— The Lancet—Lord Polwarth — Florence Nightingale. 

When Stanley left Livingstone at Unyanyembe there 
w;is nothing for the latter but to wait thereuntil the men 
should come to him who were to be sent up from Zanzi- 
bar. Stanley left on the 14th March ; Livingstone calcu- 
lated that he would reach Zanzibar on the 1st May, that 
hia men would be ready to start about the 2 2d May, and 
that they ought to arrive at Unyanyembe on the 10th 
or lath July. In reality, Stanley did not reach Baga- 

2 E 



434 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xxii. 

moio till the 6th May, the men were sent off about the 
25th, and they reached Unyanyembe about the 9th 
August. A month more than had been counted on had 
to be spent at Unyanyembe, and this delay was all the 
more trying because it brought the traveller nearer to 
the rainy season. 

The intention of Dr. Livingstone, when the men 
should come, was to strike south by Ufipa, go round 
Tanganyika, then cross the Chambeze, and bear away 
along the southern shore of Bangweolo, straight west to 
the ancient fountains ; from them in eight days to 
Katanga copper mines ; from Katanga, in ten days, north- 
east to the great underground excavations, and back 
again to Katanga ; from which n.n.w. twelve days to the 
head of Lake Lincoln. " There I hope devoutly," he 
writes to his daughter, " to thank the Lord of all, and 
turn my face along Lake Kamolondo, and over Lualaba, 
Tanganyika, Ujiji, and home." 

His stay at Unyanyembe was a somewhat dreary one ; 
there was little to do and little to interest him. Five 
days after Stanley left him occurred his fifty-ninth birth- 
day. How his soul was exercised appears from the renewal 
of his self-dedication recorded in his Journal : — 

" 1 9th March, Birthday. — My Jesus, my King, my Life, my All ; 
I again dedicate my whole self to Thee. Accept me, and grant, O 
gracious Father, that ere this year is gone I may finish my task. In 
Jesus' name I ask it. Amen. So let it be. 

" David Livingstone." 

Frequent letters were written to his daughter from 
Unyanyembe, and they dwelt a good deal upon his 
difficulties, the treacherous way in which he had been 
treated, and the indescribable toil and suffering which 
had been the result. He said that in complaining to Dr. 
Kirk of the men whom he had employed, and the dis- 
graceful use they had made of his (Kirk's) name, he never 
meant to charge him with being the author of their 



1S72-73] FROM UNYANYEMBE TO BANGWEOLO. 455 

crimes, and it never occurred to him to say to Kirk, " I 
don't believe you to be the traitor they imply ;" but Kirk 
took his complaint in high dudgeon as a covert attack 
upon himself, and did not act toward him as he ought to 
have done, considering what he owed him. His cordial 
and uniform testimony of Stanley was — "altogether he 
has behaved right nobly." 

On the 1st May he finished a letter for the New York 
Herald, and asked God's blessing on it. It contained 
the memorable words afterwards inscribed on the stone 
to his memory in Westminster Abbey : " All I can add 
in my loneliness is, may Heaven's rich blessing come down 
on every one — American, English, or Turk — who will help 
to heal the open sore of the world." It happened that 
the words were written precisely a year before his death. 

Amid the universal darkness around him, the universal 
ignorance of God and of the grace and love of Jesus 
Christ, it was hard to believe that Africa should ever 
be won. He had to strengthen his faith amid this uni- 
versal desolation. We read in his Journal : — 

"13/// May. — He will keep His -word — the gracious One, full of 
grace and truth ; no doubt of it. He said : ' Him that cometh unto 
me, I will in no wise cast out;' and, 'Whatsoever ye shall ask in my 
name, I will give it.' He will keep His word : then I can come and 
humbly present my petition, and it will be all right. Doubt is here 
inadmissible, surely. D. L." 

His mind rujninates on the river system of the country 
and the probability of his being in error : — 

"21.4 May. — I wish I had some of the assurance possessed by 
others, but I am oppressed with the apprehension that, after all, it may 
turn out that I have been following the Congo; and who would risk 
being put into a cannibal pot, and converted into black man for it?" 

" Z\d May. — In reference to this Nile source I have been kept in 

perpetual doubt and perplexity. I know too much to be positive. 

Lualaba, or Lualubba, as Manyuema say, may turn out to be 

the Congo, and Nile a shorter river after all. 1 The fountains flowing 

1 Prom false punctuation, this passage is unintelligible in the Last Journals, 
vol. ii. p. 193. 



436 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xxii. 

north and south seem, in favour of its being the Nile. Great westing 
is in favour of the Congo." 

"2ith June. — The medical education has led me to a continual 
tendency to suspend the judgment. What a state of blessedness it 
would have been had I possessed the dead certainty of the homoeopathic 
persuasion, and as soon as I found the Lakes Bangweolo, Moero, and 
Kamolondo pouring out their waters down the great central valley, 
bellowed out, ' Hurrah ! Eureka !' and gone home in firm and honest 
belief that I had settled it, and no mistake. Instead of that, I am 
even now not at all ' cock-sure ' that I have not been following down 
what may after all be the Congo." 

We now know that this was just what he had been 
doing. But we honour him all the more for the diffidence 
that would not adopt a conclusion while any part of the 
evidence was wanting, and that led him to encounter 
unexampled risks and hardships before he would affirm 
his favourite view as a fact. The moral lesson thus 
enforced is invaluable. We are almost thankful that 
Livingstone never got his doubts solved, it would have 
been such a disappointment ; even had he known that in 
all time coming the great stream which had cast on him 
such a resistless spell would be known as the Livingstone 
River, and would perpetuate the memory of his life and 
his efforts for the good of Africa. 

Occasionally his Journal gives a gleam of humour : — 
" ISth June. — The- Ptolemaic map defines people accord- 
ing to their food, — the Elephantophagi, the Struthio- 
phagi, the Ichthyophagi, and Anthropophagi. If we 
followed the same sort of classification, our definition 
would be by the drink, thus : the tribe of stout-guzzlers, 
the roaring potheen-fuddlers, the whisky-fishoid-drinkers, 
the vin-ordinaire bibbers, the lager-beer-swillers, and an 
outlying tribe of the brandy cocktail persuasion." 

Natural History furnishes an unfailing interest : — 
iC 19th June. — Whydahs, though full-fledged, still gladly 
take a feed from their dam, putting down the breast to 
the ground, and cocking up the bill and chirruping in 
the most engaging manner and winning way they know. 



1872-73] FROM UNYANYEMBE TO BANGWEOLO. 437 

She still gives them a little, but administers a friendly 
shove-off too. They all pick up feathers or grass, and 
bop from side to side of their mates, as if saying, Come, 
let ns play at making little houses. The wagtail has 
shaken her young quite off, and has a new nest. She 
warbles prettily, very much like a canary, and is extremely 
active in catching flies, but eats crumbs of bread-and- 
milk too. Sun-birds visit the pomegranate flowers, and 
eat insects therein too, as well as nectar. The young 
whydah birds crouch closely together at night for heat. 
They look like a woolly ball on a branch. By day they 
engage in pairing and coaxing each other. They come to 
the same twig every night. Like children, they try and 
lift heavy weights of feathers above their strength." 

On 3d July a very sad entry occurs : "Received a note 
from Oswell, written in April last, containing the sad 
intelligence of Sir Roderick's departure from among us. 
Alas ! alas ! this is the only time in my life I ever felt 
inclined to use the word, and it bespeaks a sore heart ; 
the best friend I ever had — true, warm, and abiding, — he 
loved me more than I deserved; he looks down on me 
still/ This entry indicates extraordinary depth of emo- 
tion. Sir Roderick exercised a kind of spell on Living- 
stone. Respect for him was one of the subordinate 
motives that induced him to undertake this journey. 
The hope of giving him satisfaction was one of the sub- 
ordinate rewards to which he looked forward. His death 
to Livingstone a kind of scientific widowhood, and 
must have deprived him of a great spring to exertion in 
this last wandering. On Sir Roderick's part the affection 
for him was very great. "Looking back," says his 
biographer, Professor Geikie, "upon his scientific career 
when not far from its close, Murcbison found no part of 
it which brought more pleasing recollections than the 
support he had given to African explorers — Speke, Grant, 
and notably Livingstone. 'I rejoice/ he said, 'in the 



438 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xxii. 

steadfast tenacity with which I have upheld my confidence 
in the ultimate success of the last-named of these brave 
men. - In fact, it was the confidence I placed in the un- 
dying vigour of my dear friend Livingstone which has 
sustained me in the hope that I might live to enjoy 
the supreme delight of welcoming him back to his own 
country/ But that consummation was not to be. He 
himself was gathered to his rest just six days before 
. Stanley brought news and relief to the forlorn traveller 
on Lake Tanganyika. And Livingstone, while still in 
pursuit of his quest, and within ten months of his death, 
.learned in the heart of Africa the tidings which he 
chronicled in his journal." 1 

At other times he is ruminating on mission-work : — 

" 1 Oth July. — No great difficulty would be encountered in estab- 
lishing a Christian mission a hundred miles or so from the East Coast. 
... To the natives the chief attention of the mission should be 
directed. It would not be desirable or advisable to refuse explanation 
to others ; but I have avoided giving offence to intelligent Arabs who 
having pressed me, asking if I believed in Mohamad, by saying, 'No, 
I do not ; I am a child of Jesus bin Miriam,' avoiding anything offen- 
sive in my tone, and often adding that Mohamad found their fore- 
fathers bowing down to trees and stones, and did good to them by 
forbidding idolatry, and teaching the worship of the only One God. 
This they all know, and it pleases them to have it recognised. It 
might be good policy to hire a respectable Arab to engage free porters, 
and conduct the mission to the country chosen, and obtain permission 
from the chief to build temporary houses. ... A couple of Europeans 
beginning and carrying on a mission without a staff of foreign attend- 
ants, implies coarse country fare, it is true ; but this would be nothing 
to those who at home amuse themselves with vigils, fasting, etc. A 
great deal of power is thus lost in the Church. Fastings and vigils, 
without a special object in view, are time run to waste. They are 
made to minister to a sort of self-gratification, instead of being turned 
to account for the good of others. They are like groaning in sickness : 
some people amuse themselves when ill with continuous moaning. 
The forty days of Lent might be annually spent in visiting adjacent 
tribes, and bearing unavoidable hunger and thirst with a good grace. 
Considering the greatness of the object to be attained, men might go 
without sugar, coffee, tea, as I went from September 18G6 to Decem- 
ber 1868 without either." 

1 Life of Sir i?. /. MarcMson, vol. ii. pp. 297-8. 



1872-73] FROM UNYANYEMBE TO BANGU'EOLO. 439 

On the subject of Missions he says, at a later period, 
8 tli November : " The spirit of missions is the spirit of 
our Master ; the very genius of His religion. A diffusive 
philanthropy is Christianity itself. It requires perpetual 
propagation to attest its genuineness.'' 

Thanks to Mr. Stanley and the American Consul, who 
made arrangements in a way that drew Livingstone's 
warmest gratitude, his escort arrived at last, consisting of 
titty-seven men and boys. Several of these had gohe 
with Mr. Stanley from Unyanyembe to Zanzibar ; among 
the new men were some Nassick pupils who had been 
sent from Bombay to join Lieutenant Dawson. John and 
Jacob Wainwriffht were anions these. To Jacob Wain- 
wright, who was well-educated, we owe the earliest nar- 
rative that appeared of the last eight months of Living- 
stone's career. How happy he was with the men now 
sent to him appears from a letter to Mr. Stanley, written 
very near his death : — "I am perpetually reminded that 
I owe a great deal to you for the men you sent. "With 
one exception, the party is working like a machine. I 
give my orders to Manwa Sera, and never have to repeat 
them." Would that he had had such a company before ! 

On the 25th August the party started. On the 8th 
October they reached Tanganyika, and rested, for they 
were tired, and several were sick, including Livingstone, 
who had been ill with his bowel disorder. The march 
went on slowly, and with few incidents. As the season 
advanced, rain, mist, swollen streams, and swampy ground 
ne familiar. At the end of the year they were 
approaching the river Chambeze. Christmas had its 
thanksgiving: '"I thank the good Lord for the good 
gilt of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. ;; 

In the second week of January they came near 
Bangweolo, and the reign of Neptune became inces- 
sant. We are told of cold rainy weather; sometimes 
a drizzle, sometimes an incessant pour; swollen streams 



44 o DA VI D LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xxii. 

and increasing sponges, — making progress a continual 
struggle. Yet, as he passes through a forest, he has an 
eye to its flowers, which are numerous and beautiful : — 

" There are many flowers in the forest ; marigolds, a white jonquil- 
looking flower without smell, many orchids, white, yellow, and pink 
asclepias, with bunches of French- white flowers, clematis — Methonica 
ghriosa, gladiolus, and blue and deep purple polygalas, grasses with 
white starry seed-vessels, and spikelets of brownish red and yellow. 
Besides these, there are beautiful blue flowering bulbs, and new flowers 
of pretty delicate form and but little scent. To this list may be added 
balsams, composite of blood-red colour and of purple ; other flowers 
of liver colour, bright canary yellow, pink orchids on spikes thickly 
covered all round, and of three inches in length ; spiderworts of fine 
blue or yellow or even pink. Different coloured asclepiadese ; beautiful 
yellow and red umbelliferous flowering plants ; dill and wild parsnips ; 
pretty flowering aloes, yellow and red, in one whorl of blossoms ; peas 
and many other flowering plants which I do not know." 

Observations were taken with unremitting diligence, 
except when, as was now common, nothing could be seen 
in the heavens. As they advanced, the weather became 
worse. It rained as if nothing but rain were ever known 
in the watershed. The path lay across flooded rivers, 
which were distinguished by their currents only from the 
flooded country along their banks. Dr. Livingstone had 
to be carried over the rivers on the back of one of his men, 
in the fashion so graphically depicted on the cover of the 
Last Journals. The stretches of sponge that came before 
and after the rivers, with their long grass and elephant- 
holes, were scarcely less trying. The inhabitants were, 
commonly, most unfriendly to the party ; they refused 
them food, and, whenever they could, deceived them as 
to the way. Hunger bore down on the party with its 
bitter gnawing. Once a mass of furious ants attacked 
the Doctor by night, driving him in despair from hut to 
hut. Any frame but one of iron must have succumbed to 
a single month of such a life, and before a week was out, 
any body of men, not held together by a power of disci- 
pline and a charm of affection unexampled in the history 



1S72-73.] FROM UNYANYEMBE TO BANGWEOLO. 441 

of difficult expeditions, would have been scattered to the 
four winds. Livingstone's own sufferings were beyond 
all previous example. 

About this time he began an undated letter — his last 
— to his old friends Sir Thomas Maclear and Mr. Mann. It 
was never finished, and never despatched; but as one of 
the latest things he ever wrote, it is deeply interesting, 
as showing how clear, vigorous, and independent his mind 
was to the very last : — 

" Lake Baxgweolo, South Central Africa. 

"My dear Friends Maclear and Mann, — ... My work 
at present is mainly retracing my steps to take up the thread of 
my exploration. It counts in my lost time, but I try to make 
the most of it by going round outside this lake and all the sources, 
BO that no one may come afterwards and cut me out. I have a 
party of good men, selected by H. M. Stanley, who, at the instance 
of James Gordon Bennett, of the New York Herald, acted the part of a 
good Samaritan truly, and relieved my sore necessities. A dutiful son 
could not have done more than he generously did. I bless him. The 
men, fifty-six in number, have behaved as well as Makololo. I 
cannot award them higher praise, though they have not the courage of 
that brave kind-hearted people. From Unyanyembe we went due 
.south to avoid an Arab war which had been going on for eighteen 
months. It is like one of our CafFre wars, with this difference — no 
one is enriched thereby, for all trade is stopped, and the Home 
Government pays nothing. We then went westward to Tanganyika, 
and along its eastern excessively mountainous bank to the end. The 
heat was really broiling among the rocks. No rain had fallen, and 
the grass being generally burned off, the heat rose off the black ashes 
as it out of an oven, vet the flowers persisted in coming out of the 
binning soil, and generally without leaves, as if it had been a custom 
that they must observe by a law of the Medes and Persians. This 
part detained u> Long; the men's limbs were affected with a sort of 
subcutaneous inflammation — black rose or erysipelas, — and when I 
proposed mildly and medically to relieve the tension it was too 
horrible to 1m- thought of, but they willingly carried the helpless. 
Then we mounted up at once into tin; high, cold region Urungu, south 
of Tanganyika, and into the middle of the rainy season, with well- 
grown grass and everything oppressively green; rain so often that no 
observations could be made, except at wide intervals. I could 
form no opinion as to our longitude.', and but little of our latitudes. 
Three of the Baurungu chiefs, one a great friend of mine, Nasonso, 
had died, and the population all turned topsy-turvy, so I could 
make no use of previous observations. They elect sisters' or brothers' 



442 DA FID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xxii. 

sons to the chieftainship, instead of the heir-apparent. Food was 
not to be had for either love or money. 

"I was at the mercy of guides who did not know their own 
country, and when I insisted on following the compass, they threatened, 
'no food for five or ten days in that line.' They brought us 
clown to the back or north side of Bangweolo, while I wanted to 
cross the Chambeze and go round its southern side. So back again 
south-eastwards we had to bend. The Portuguese crossed this Chambeze 
a long time ago, and are therefore the first European discoverers. 
We were not black men with Portuguese names like those for whom 
the feat of crossing the continent was eagerly claimed by Lisbon states- 
men. Dr. Lacerda was a man of scientific attainments, and Governor 
of Tette, but finding Cazembe at the rivulet called Chungu, he unfor- 
tunately succumbed to fever ten days after his arrival. He seemed 
anxious to make his way across to Angola. Misled by the similarity 
of Chambeze to Zambesi, they all thought it to be a branch of the river 
that flows past Tette, Senna, and Shupanga, by Luabo and Kongone to 
the sea. 

"I rather stupidly took up the same idea from a map saying 
' Zambesi ' (eastern branch), believing that the map printer had some 
authority for his assertion. My first crossing was thus as fruitless as 
theirs, and I was less excusable, for I ought to have remembered that 
while Chambeze is the true native name of the northern river, Zambesi 
is not the name of the southern river at all. It is a Portuguese cor- 
ruption of Dombazi, which we adopted rather than introduce confusion 
by new names, in the same way that we adopted Nyassa instead of 
Nyanza ia Nyinyesi =± Lake of the Stars, which the Portuguese, from 
hearsay, corrupted into Nyassa. The English have been worse propa- 
gators of nonsense than Portuguese. ' Geography of Nyassa ' was 
thought to be a learned way of writing the name, though 'Nyassi' 
means long grass and nothing else. It took me twenty-two months to 
eliminate the error into which I was led, and then it was not by my own 
acuteness, but by the chief Cazembe, who was lately routed and slain 
by a party of Banyamwezi. He gave me the first hint of the truth, 
and that rather in a bantering strain : ' One piece of water is just like 
another ; Bangweolo water is just like Moero water, Chambeze water 
like Luapula water ; they are all the same ; but your chief ordered you 
to go to the Bangweolo, therefore by all means go, but wait a few days, 
till I have looked out for good men as guides, and good food for you to 
eat,' etc. etc. 

"I was not sure but that it was all royal chaff, till I made 
my way back south to the head-waters again, and had the natives of 
the islet Mpabala slowly moving the hands all around the great ex- 
panse, with 183° of sea horizon, and saying that is Chambeze, forming 
the great Bangweolo, and disappearing behind that western headland 
to change its name to Luapula, and run down past Cazembe to Moero. 
That was the moment of discovery, and not my passage or the Portu- 



1872-73.] FROM UNYANYEMBE TO BAXGWEOLO. 443 

guesc passage of the river. If, however, any one chooses to claim 
for them the discovery of Chambezeas one line of drainage of the Nile 
valley, I shall not fight with him ; Culpepper's astrology was in the 
same way the forerunner of the Herschels' and the other astronomers 
that followed." 



To another old friend, Mr. James Young, he wrote 
about the same time : " Ope re peraeto ludemus — the work 
being finished, we will play — you remember in your Latin 
Rudiments lang syne. It is true for you, and I rejoice 
to think it is now your portion, after working nobly, to 
play. May you have a long spell of it ! I am differently 
situated ; I shall never be able to play. ... To me it 
seems to be said, ' If thou forbear to deliver them that 
are drawn unto death, and those that be ready to be 
slain ; if thou sayest, Behold we knew it not, doth not 
He that pondereth the heart consider, and He that keepeth 
thy soul doth He not know, and shall He not give to 
every one according to his works ? ' I have been led, un- 
wittingly, into the slaving field of the Banians and Arabs 
in Central Africa. I have seen the woes inflicted, and I 
must still work and do all I can to expose and mitigate 
the evils. Though hard work is still to be my lot, I look 
genially on others more favoured in their lot. I would 
not be a member of the ' International,' for I love to see 
and think of others enjoying life. 

" During a large part of this journey I had a strong 
presentiment that I should never live to finish it. It 
is weakened now, as I seem to see the end towards 
which I have been striving looming in the distance. 
This presentiment did not interfere with the performance 
of any duty ; it only made me think a great deal more 
of the future state of being." 

In his latest letters there is abundant evidence that 
the great desire of his heart was to expose the slave- 
trade, rouse public feeling, and get that great hindrance 
to all good for ever swept away. 



444 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xxii. 

" Spare no pains/' he wrote to Dr. Kirk in 1871, "in 
attempting to persuade your superiors to this end, and 
the Divine blessing will descend on you and yours." 

To his daughter Agnes he wrote (15th August 1872) : 
" No one can estimate the amount of God-pleasing good 
that will be done, if, by Divine favour, this awful slave- 
trade, into the midst of which I have come, be abolished. 
This will be something to have lived for, and the convic- 
tion has grown in my mind that it was for this end I 
have been detained so long." 

To his brother in Canada he says (December 1872) : 
" If the good Lord permits me to put a stop to the 
enormous evils of the inland slave-trade, I shall not 
grudge my hunger and toils. I shall bless His name 
with all my heart. The Nile sources are valuable to 
me only as a means of enabling me to open my mouth 
with power among men. It is this power I hope to 
apply to remedy an enormous evil, and join my poor 
little helping hand in the enormous revolution that in 
His all-embracing Providence He has been carrying on 
for ages, and is now actually helping forward. Men may 
think I covet fame, but I make it a rule never to read 
aught written in my praise." 

Livingstone's last birthday (19th March 1873) found 
him in much the same circumstances as before. " Thanks 
to the Almighty Preserver of men for sparing me thus 
far on the journey of life. Can I hope for ultimate 
success ? So many obstacles have arisen. Let not Satan 
prevail over me, O my good Lord Jesus." A few days 
after (24th March), " Nothing earthly will make me give 
up my work in despair. I encourage myself in the Lord 
my God, and go forward." 

In the beginning of April, the bleeding from the 
bowels, from which he had been suffering, became more 
copious, and his weakness was pitiful ; still he longed for 
strength to finish his work. Even yet the old passion 



1672-73.] FROM UNYANYEMBE TO BANGWEOLO* 445 

for natural history was strong ; the aqueous plants that 
abounded everywhere, the caterpillars that after eating 
the plants ate one another, and were such clumsy 
swimmers ; the fish with the hook-shaped lower jaw that 
enabled them to feed as they skimmed past the plants ; 
the morning summons of the cocks and turtle-doves; the 
weird scream of the fish eagle — all engaged his interest. 
Observations continued to be taken, and the Sunday 
services were always held. 

But on the 21st April a change occurred. In a shaky 
hand he wrote: "Tried to ride, but was forced to lie 
down, and they carried me back to vil. exhausted." A 
kitanda or palanquin had to be made for carrying him. 
It was sorry work, for his pains were excruciating and 
his weakness excessive. On the 27th April 1 he was 
apparently at the lowest ebb, and wrote in his Journal 
the last words he ever penned — " Knocked up quite, and 
remain = recover sent to buy milch goats. We are on 
the banks of R. Molilamo." 

The word "recover" seems to show that he had no 

sentiment of death, but cherished the hope of re- 
covery ; and Mr. Waller has pointed out, from his own 
sad observation of numerous cases in connection with the 
Universities Mission, that malarial poisoning is usually 
unattended with the apprehension of death, and that in 
none of these instances, any more than in the case of 
Livingstone, were there any such messages, or instruc- 
tions, or expressions of trust and hope as are usual on 
the part of Christian men when death is near. 

The 29th April was the last day of his travels. In 
the morning he directed Susi to take down the side of 
the hut that the kitanda might be brought along, as the 
door would not admit it, and he was quite unable to walk 
to it. Then came the crossing of a river; then progress 
through swamps and plashes ; and when they got to any 
1 This mus the eleventh anniversary of his wife's death. 



446 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xxii. 

thing like a dry plain, he would ever and anon beg of 
them to lay him down. At last they got him to Chit- 
ambo's village, in Ilala, where they had to put him under 
the eaves of a house during a drizzling rain, until the 
hut they were building should be got ready. 

Then they laid him on a rough bed in the hut, where 
he spent the night. Next day he lay undisturbed. He 
asked a few wandering questions about the country — 
especially about the Luapula. His people knew that the 
end could not be far off. Nothing occurred to attract 
notice during the early part of the night, but at four in 
the morning, the boy who lay at his door called in alarm for 
Susi, fearing that their master was dead. By the candle 
still burning they saw him, not in bed, but kneeling at 
the bedside, with his head buried in his hands upon the 
pillow. The sad yet not unexpected truth soon became 
evident : he had passed away on the furthest of all his 
journeys, and without a single attendant. But he had 
died in the act of prayer — prayer offered in that rever- 
ential attitude about which he was always so particular ; 
commending his own spirit, with all his dear ones, as was 
his wont, into the hands of his Saviour ; and commending 
Africa — his own dear Africa — with all her woes and 
sins and wrongs, to the Avenger of the oppressed and the 
Redeemer of the lost. 

If anything were needed to commend the African race, 
and prove them possessed of qualities fitted to make a 
noble nation, the courage, affection, and persevering 
loyalty shown by his attendants after his death might 
well have this effect. When the sad event became 
known among the men, it was cordially resolved that 
every effort should be made to carry their master's 
remains to Zanzibar. Such an undertaking was ex- 
tremely perilous, for there were not merely the ordinary 
risks of travel to a small body of natives, but there was 
also the superstitious horror everywhere prevalent con- 



1S72-73.] FROM UXYAXYEMBE TO BANGWEOLO. 447 

nected with the dead. Chitambo must be kept in 
ignorance of what bad happened, otherwise a ruinous 
fine would be sure to be infiicted on them. The secret 
however oozed out, but happily the chief was reasonable. 
Susi and Chuma, the old attendants of Livingstone, 
became now the leaders of the company, and they fulfilled 
their task right nobly. The interesting narrative of Mr. 
Waller at the end of the Last Journals tells us how 
calmly yet efficiently they set to work. Arrangements 
were made for drying and embalming the body, after 
removing and burying the heart and other viscera. For 
fourteen days the body was dried in the sun. After 
being wrapped in calico; and the legs bent inwards at the 
knees, it was enclosed in a large piece of bark from a 
Myonga tree in the form of a cylinder; over this a piece 
of sail-cloth was sewed ; and the package was lashed to a 
pole, so as to be carried by two men. Jacob Wainwright 
carved an inscription on the Mvula tree under which the 
body had rested, and where the heart was buried, and 
Chitambo was charged to keep the grass cleared away, 
and to protect two posts and a cross piece wdiich they 
erected to mark the spot. \ 

They then set out on their homeward march. It was 
a serious journey, for the terrible exposure had affected 
the health of most of them, and many had to lie down 
through sickness. The tribes through which they passed 
were generally friendly, but not always. At one place 
they had a regular fight. On the whole, their progress 
was wonderfully quiet and regular. Everywhere they 
found that the news of the Doctor's death had got before 
them. At one place they heard that a party of English- 
men, headed by Dr. Livingstone's son, on their way to 
relieve his father, had been seen at Bagamoio some months 
previously. As they approached Unyanyembe, they 
learned that the party was there, but when Chuma 
ran on before, he was disappointed to find that Osweli 



44 8 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xxn. 

Livingstone was not among them. Lieutenant Cameron, 
Dr. Dillon, and Lieutenant Murphy were there, and 
heard the tidings of the men with deep emotion. 
Cameron wished them to bury the remains where they 
were, and not run the risk of conveying them through 
the Ugogo country ; but the men were inflexible, deter- 
mined to carry out their first intention. This was not 
the only interference with these devoted and faithful 
men. Considering how carefully they had gathered all 
Livingstone's property, and how conscientiously, at the 
risk of their lives, they were carrying it to the coast, 
to transfer it to the British Consul there, it was 
not warrantable in the new-comers to take the boxes 
from them, examine their contents, and carry off a 
part of them. Nor do we think Lieutenant Cameron 
was entitled to take away the instruments with which 
all Livingstone's observations had been made for a 
series of seven years, and use them, though only tem- 
porarily, for the purposes of his expedition, inasmuch 
as he thereby made it impossible so to reduce Living- 
stone's observations as that correct results should be 
obtained from them. Sir Henry Rawlinson seems not 
to have adverted to this result of Mr. Cameron's act, 
in his reference to the matter from the chair of the Geo- 
graphical Society. 

On leaving Unyanyembe the party were joined by 
Lieutenant Murphy, not much to the promotion of unity 
of action or harmonious feeling. At Kasekera a spirit of 
opposition was shown by the inhabitants, and a ruse was 
resorted to so as to throw them off their guard. It was 
resolved to pack the remains in such form that when 
wrapped in calico they should appear like an ordinary 
bale of merchandise. A fagot of mapira stalks, cut into 
lengths of about six feet, was then swathed in cloth, to 
imitate a dead body about to be buried. This was sent 
back along the way to Unyanyembe, as if the party had 



1*740 FROM UNYANYEMBE TO BAXGWEOLO. 449 

changed their minds and resolved to bury the remains 
there. The bearers, at nightfall, began to throw away 
the mapira rods, and then the wrappings, and when they 
had thus disposed of them they returned to their com- 
panions. The villagers of Kasekera had now no sus- 
picion, and allowed the party to pass unmolested. But 
though one tragedy was averted, another was enacted at 
Kasekera — the dreadful suicide of Dr. Dillon while suf- 
fering from dysentery and fever. 

The cortege now passed on without further incident, 
and arrived at Bagamoio in February 1874. Soon after 
they reached Bagamoio a cruiser arrived from Zanzibar, 
with the acting Consul, Captain Prideaux, on board, and 
the remains were conveyed to that island previous to 
their being sent to England. 

The men that for nine long months remained steadfast 
to their purpose to pay honour to the remains of their 
master, in the midst of innumerable trials and dangers 
and without hope of reward, have established a strong 
claim to the gratitude and admiration of the world. 
Would that the debt were promptly repaid in efforts to 
free Africa from her oppressors, and send throughout all 
her borders the Divine proclamation, " Glory to God in 
the highest, on earth peace, good-will to men." 

In regard to the Search party to which reference has 
made, it may be stated that when Livingstone's 
purpose to go back to the barbarous regions where he 
had suffered so much before became known in England it 
excited a feeling of profound concern. Two expeditions 
were arranged. That to the East Coast, organised 
by the Royal Geographical Society, was placed under 
Lieutenant Cameron, and included in its ranks Robert 
Moffat, a grandson of Dr. Moffat's, who (as has been 
already stated) fell early a sacrifice to fever. The 
members of the expedition suffered much from sickness ; 
it was broken up at Unyanyembe, when the party bear- 

2 F 



45o DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xxn. 

ing the remains of Dr. Livingstone was met. The other 
party, under command of Lieutenant Grand y, was to go to 
the West Coast, start from Loanda, strike the Congo, and 
move on to Lake Lincoln. This expedition was fitted 
out solely at the cost of Mr. Young. He was deeply con- 
cerned for the safety of his friend, knowing how he was 
hated by the slave-traders whose iniquities he had 
exposed, and thinking it likely that if he once reached 
Lake Lincoln he would make for the west coast along the 
Congo. The purpose of these expeditions is carefully 
explained in a letter addressed to Dr. Livingstone by 
Sir Henry Rawlinson, then President of the Royal 
Geographical Society : — 

"London, Nov. 20, 1872. 

" Dear Dr. Livingstone, — You will no doubt have heard of Sir 
Bartle Frere's deputation to Zanzibar long before you receive this, 
and you will have learnt with heartfelt satisfaction that there is now 
a definite prospect of the infamous East African slave-trade being 
suppressed. For this great end, if it be achieved, we shall be mainly 
indebted to your recent letters, which have had a powerful^ effect on 
the public mind in England, and have thus stimulated the action of 
the Government. Sir Bartle will keep you informed of his arrange- 
ments, if there are any means of communicating with the interior, and 
I am sure you will assist him to the utmost of your power in carrying- 
out the good work in which he is engaged. 

" It was a great disappointment to us that Lieutenant Dawson's 
expedition, which we fitted out in the beginning of the year with such 
completeness, did not join you at Unyanyembe, for it could not have 
failed to be of service to you in many ways. We are now trying 
to aid you with a second expedition under Lieutenant Cameron, 
whom we have sent out under Sir Bartle's orders, to join you if 
possible in the vicinity of Lake Tanganyika, and attend to your 
wishes in respect to his further movements. We leave it entirely to 
your discretion whether you like to keep Mr. Cameron with you or 
to send him on to the Victoria Nyanza, or any other points that you 
are unable to visit yourself. Of course the great point of interest con- 
nected with your present exploration is the determination of the 
lower course of the Lualaba. Mr. Stanley still adheres to the view, 
which you formerly held, that it drains, into the Nile ; but if the levels 
which you give are correct, this is impossible. At any rate, the 
opinion of the identity of the Congo and Lualaba is now becoming 
so universal that Mr. Young has come forward with a donation of 
£2000 to enable us to send another expedition to your assistance up 



1S74] FROM UXYAXYEMBE TO BANGWEOLO. 451 

that river, and Lieutenant Grandy, with a crew of twenty Kroomen, 
will accordingly be palling up the Congo before many months are 
over. Whether he will really be able to penetrate to your unvisited 
lake, or beyond it to Lake Lincoln, is, of course, a matter of great 
doubt ; but it will at any rate be gratifying to you to know that 
support is approaching you both from the west and east. We all 
highly admire and appreciate your indomitable energy and persever- 
ance, and the Geographical Society will do everything in its power to 
rapport you, so as to compensate in some measure for the loss you 
have sustained in the death of your old friend Sir Roderick Murchison. 
My own tenure of office expires in May, and it is not yet decided who 
is to succeed me, but whoever may be our President, our interest in 
your proceedings will not slacken. Mr. Waller will, I daresay, have 
told you that we have just sent a memorial to Mr. Gladstone, praying 
that a pension may be at once conferred upon your daughters, and I 
have every hope that our prayer may be successful. You will see by 
the papers, now sent to you, that there has been much acrimonious 
discussion of late on African affairs. I have tried myself in every 
possible way to throw oil on the troubled waters, and begin to hope 
now for something like peace. I shall be very glad to hear from you 
if you can spare time to send me a line, and will always keep a 
watchful eye over your interests. — I remain, yours very truly, 

11 H. C. Rawlinson." 

The" remains were brought to Aden on board the 

" Calcutta," and thereafter transferred to the P. and 0. 

steamer " Malwa," which arrived at Southampton on the 

15th of April. Mr. Thomas Livingstone, eldest surviving 

son of the Doctor, being then in Egypt on account of 

his health, 1 had gone on board at Alexandria. The body 

conveyed t«> London by special train and deposited in 

th" rooms of the Geographical Society in Savile How. 

In the course of the evening the remains were ex- 
es 

amined by Sir William Fergusson and several other 
medical gentlemen, including Dr. Loudon of Hamilton, 
whose professional skill and great kindness to his family 
had gained for him ;i high place in the esteem and love 
of Livingstone. To many persons* it had ;ij>peared so 
incredible that the remains should have been brought 
from the heart of Africa to London, that some conclusive 
identification of the body seemed to be necessary to 

1 Thomas never regained robust health. He died at Alexandria, 15th Mareh 187G. 



452 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xxii. 

set all doubt at rest. The state of the arm, the one 
that had been broken by the lion, supplied the crucial 
evidence. " Exactly in the region of the attachment of 
the deltoid to the humerus " (said Sir William Fergusson 
in a contribution to the Lancet, April 18, 1874), "there 
were the indications of an oblique fracture. On moving 
the arm there were the indications of an ununited 
fracture. A closer identification and dissection displayed 
the false joint that had so long ago been so well recog- 
nised by those who had examined the arm in former 
days. . . . The first glance set my mind at rest, and 
that, with the further examination, made me as positive 
as to the identification of these remains as that there has 
been among us in modern times one of the greatest men 
of the human race — David Livingstone." 

On Saturday, April 18, 1874, the remains of the great 
traveller were committed to their resting-place near the 
centre of the nave of Westminster Abbey. Many old 
friends of Livingstone came to be present, and many of 
his admirers, who could not but avail themselves of 
the opportunity to pay a last tribute of respect to his 
memory. The Abbey was crowded in every part from 
which the spectacle might be seen. The pall-bearers were 
Mr. H. M. Stanley, Jacob Wainwright, Sir T. Steele, Dr. 
Kirk, Mr. W. F. Webb, Eev. Horace Waller, Mr. Oswell, 
and Mr. E. D. Young. Two of these, Mr. Waller and Dr. 
Kirk, along with Dr. Stewart, who was also present, had 
assisted twelve years before at the funeral of Mrs. Living- 
stone at Shupanga. Dr. Moffat too was there, full of sor- 
rowful admiration. Amid a service which was emphatically 
impressive throughout, the simple words of the hymn, 
sung to the tune of Tallis, were peculiarly touching : — 

" God of Bethel ! by whose hand 
Thy people still are fed, 
Who through this weary pilgrimage 
Hast all our fathers led." 



iS 74 .] FROM UNYANYEMBE TO BANGWEOLO. 453 

The black slab that now marks the resting-place of 
Livingstone bears this inscription : — 

BROUGHT BY FAITHFUL HANDS 

OVER LAND AND SKA, 

HERE RESTS 

DAVID LIVINGSTONE 

MISSIONARY, TRAVELLER, PHILANTHROPIST;, 

BORN MARCH 19, 1813, 

AT BLANTYRE, LANARKSHIRE. 

DIED MAY 4, 1 1873, 

AT CHITAMBO'S VILLAGE, ILALA. 

For thirty yoars his life was spent in an unwearied effort to evangelize 
the native races, to explore the undiscovered secrets, 

and abolish the desolating slave-trade of Central Africa, 

where, with his last words he wrote : 

"All I can say in my solitude is, may Heaven's rich blessing 

come down on every one — American, English, Turk — 

who will help to heal this open sore of the world." 

Alono- the right border of the stone are the words : — 

TANTUS AMOR VERI, NIHIL EST QUOD NOSCERE MALIM 
Ql AM FLUVII CAUSAS PER SPECULA TANTA LATENTES. 

And along the left border — 

OTHER SHEEP 1 HAVE WHICH ARE NOT OF THIS FOLD, 

THEM AI.so I MIST BRING, AND THEY SHALL HEAR MY VOICE. 

On the 25th June 18G8, not far from the northern 
border of that lake Bangweolo on whose southern shore 
he passed away. Dr. Livingstone came on a grave in a 
forest. He says of it — 

"It was a little rounded mound, as if the occupant 
sat in it in the usual native way; it was strewed over 
with Hour, and a number of the large blue beads put on 

1 In the Last Journals the date ifl 1st May ; on the stone 4th May. The attend- 
ants could not quite; determine the day. 



454 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xxii. 

it ;" a little path showed that it had visitors. This is the 
sort of grave I should prefer : to be in the still, still 
forest, and no hand ever disturb my bones. The graves 
at home always seemed to me to be miserable, especially 
those in the cold damp clay, and without elbow-room; 
but I have nothing to do but wait till He who is over all 
decides where I have to lay me down and die. Poor Mary 
lies on Shupanga brae, ' and beeks foment the sun.' " 

" He who is over all " decreed that while his heart 
should lie in the leafy forest, in such a spot as he loved, 
his bones should repose in a great Christian temple, 
where many, day by day, as they read his name, would 
recall his noble Christian life, and feel how like he was to 
Him of whom ifc is written : — " The Spirit of the Lord 
God is upon me ; because the Lord hath anointed me to 
preach good tidings to the meek : he hath sent me to 
bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the 
captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are 
bound ; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and 
the day of vengeance of our God ; to comfort all that 
mourn ; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give 
unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, 
the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness ; that 
they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting 
of the Lord, that he might be glorified." 

" Droop half-mast colours, bow, bareheaded crowds 
As this plain coffin o'er the side is slung, 
To pass by woods of masts and ratlined shrouds, 
As erst by Afric's trunks, liana-hung. 

'Tis the last mile of many thousands trod 
With failing strength but never failing will, 

By the worn frame, now at its rest with God, 
That never rested from its fight with ill. 

Or if the ache of travel and of toil 

Would sometimes wring a short, sharp cry of pain 
From agony of fever, blain and boil, 

'Twas but to crush it down and on again! 



1S74.] FROM UNYANYEMBE TO BAKGUEOLO. 455 

He knew not that the trumpet he had blown 
Out of the darkness of that dismal hind, 

Had reached and roused an army of its own 

To strike the chains from the slave's fettered hand. 

Now we believe, he knows, sees all is well ; 

How God had staved his will and shaped his way, 
To bring the light to those that darkling dwell 

With gains that life's devotion well repay. 

Open the Abbey doors and bear him in 

To sleep with king' and statesman, chief and sage, 

The missionary come of weaver kin, 

But great by work that brooks no lower wage. 

He needs no epitaph to guard a name 

Which men shall prize while worthy work is known ; 
He lived and died for good — be that his fame : 

Let marble crumble : this is Living — stone." — Punch. 

Eulogiums on the dead are often attempts, sometimes 
sufficiently clumsy, to conceal one half of the truth and 
till the eye with the other. In the case of Livingstone 
there is really nothing to conceal. In tracing his life 
in these pages we have found no need for the brilliant 
colours of the rhetorician, the ingenuity of the partisan, 
or the enthusiasm of the hero-worshipper. We have 
felt, from first to last, that a plain, honest statement of 
the truth regarding him would be a higher panegyric than 
any ideal picture that could be drawn. The best tributes 
paid t«» Lis memory by distinguished countrymen were 
the most literal — we might almost say the most prosaic. 
It is but a few leaves we can reproduce of the many 
wreaths that were laid on his tomb. 

Sir Bartle Frere, as President of the Royal Geographi- 
Society, after ;i copious notice of his life, summed it 
ii|) in those words : w - As a whole, the work of his life will 
surely be held up in ages to come as one of singular noble- 
of design, and of unflinching energy and self-sacrifice 
in execution. It will be long ere anyone man will be 
able to open so large an extent of unknown land to 



456 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xxii. 

civilised mankind. Yet longer, perhaps, ere we find a 
brighter example of a life of such continued and useful 
self-devotion to a noble cause." 

In a recent letter to Dr. Livingstone's eldest daughter, 
Sir Bartle Frere (after saying that he was first introduced 
to Dr. Livingstone by Mr. Phillip, the painter, as " one 
of the noblest men he had ever met," and rehearsing the 
history of his early acquaintance) remarks : — 

" I could hardly venture to describe my estimate of 
his character as a Christian further than by saying that 
I never met a man who fulfilled more completely my idea 
of a perfect Christian gentleman, — actuated in what he 
thought, and said, and did, by the highest and most 
chivalrous" spirit, modelled on the precepts of his great 
Master and Exemplar. 

" As a man of science, I am less competent to judge, 
for my knowledge of his work is to a great extent second- 
hand ; but derived, as it is, from observers like Sir Thomas 
Maclear, and geographers like Arrowsmith, I believe him 
to be quite unequalled as a scientific traveller, in the care 
and accuracy with which he observed. In other branches 
of science I had more opportunities of satisfying myself, 
and of knowing how keen and accurate was his observa- 
tion, and how extensive his knowledge of everything con- 
nected with natural science; but every page of his journals, 
to the last week of his life, testified to his wonderful 
natural powers and accurate observation. Thirdly, as a 
missionary and explorer I have always put him in the 
very first rank. He seemed to me to possess in the most 
wonderful degree that union of opposite qualities which 
were required for such a work as opening out heathen 
Africa to Christianity and civilisation. No man had a 
keener sympathy with even the most barbarous and un- 
enlightened ; none had a more ardent desire to benefit and 
improve the most abject. In his aims, no man attempted, 
on a grander or more thorough scale, to benefit and im- 



1874-] FROM UXYAXYEMBE TO BAXGWEOLO. 457 

prove those of his race -who most needed improvement 
and light. In the execution of what he undertook, I 
never met his equal for energy and sagacity, and I feel 
sure that future ages will place him among the very first 
of those missionaries, who, following the apostles, have 
continued to carry the light of the gospel to the darkest 
regions of the world, throughout the last 1800 years. As 
regards the value of the work he accomplished, it might 
be premature to speak, — not that I think it possible I can 
over-estimate it, but because I feel sure that every year will 
add fresh evidence to show how well-considered were the 
plans he took in hand, and how vast have been the results 
of the movements he set in motion." 

The generous and hearty appreciation of Livingstone 
by the medical profession was well expressed in the words 
of the Lancet: "Few men have disappeared from our 
ranks more universally deplored, as few have served in 
them with a higher purpose, or shed upon them the 
lustre of a purer devotion." 

Lord Polwarth, in acknowledging a letter from Dr. 
Livingstone's daughter, thanking him for some words on 
her father, wrote thus : " I have long cherished the memory 
of his example, and feel that the truest beauty was his 
itially Christian spirit. Many admire in him the great 
explorer and the noble-hearted philanthropist ; but I like 
to think of him, not only thus, but as a man who was a 
servant of God, loved His Word intensely, and while he 
spoke to men of God, spoke more to God of men. 

" I lis memory will never perish, though the first freeh- 
and the impulse it gives just now, may fade ; but 
his p ravers will be had in everlasting remembrance, and 
unspeakable blessings will yet flow to that vast continent 
he opened up at the expense of his life. God called and 
qualified him for a noble work, which, by grace, he nobly 
fulfilled, and we can love the honoured servant, and adore 
the gracious Master." 



458 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xxii. 

Lastly, we give the beautiful wreath of Florence 
Nightingale, also in the form of a letter to Dr. Living- 
stone's daughter : — ■ 

"London, Feb. 18, 1874. 

" Dear Miss Livingstone, — I am only one of all 
England which is feeling with you and for you at this 
moment. 

" But Sir Bartle Frere encourages me to write 
to you. 

" We cannot help still yearning to hear of some hope 
that your great father may be still alive. 

" God knows ; and in knowing that He knows who is 
all wisdom, goodness and power, we must find our rest. 

" He has taken away, if at last it be as we fear, the 
greatest man of his generation, for Dr. Livingstone stood 
alone. 

" There are few enough, but a few statesmen. There 
are few enough, but a few great in medicine, or in art, or 
in poetry. There are a few great travellers. But Dr. 
Livingstone stood alone as the great Missionary Traveller, 
the bringer-in of civilisation ; or rather the pioneer of 
civilisation — he that cometh before — to races lying in 
darkness. 

"I always think of him as what John the Baptist, 
had he been living in the nineteenth century, would 
have been. 

" Dr. Livingstone's fame was so world-wide that 
there were other nations who understood him even 
better than we did. 

" Learned philologists from Germany, not at all 
orthodox in their opinions, have yet told me that Dr. 
Livingstone was the only man who understood races, and 
how to deal with them for good ; that he was the one 
true missionary. We cannot console ourselves for our 
loss. He is irreplaceable. 



i374-] FROM UNYANYEMBE TO BANGWEOLO. 459 

" It is not sad that he should have died out there. 
Perhaps it was the thing, much as he yearned for home, 
that was the fitting* end for him. He may have felt it 
BO himself. 

"But would that he could have completed that which 
lie offered his life to God to do ! 

" If God took him, however, it was that his life was 
completed, in God's sight ; his work finished, the most 
glorious work of our generation. 

" He has opened those countries for God to enter in. 
He struck the first blow to abolish a hideous slave-trade. 

" He, like Stephen, was the first martyr. 

He climbed the steep ascent of heaven, 

Through peril, toil, and pain ; 
God ! to us may grace be given 

To follow in his train ! 

" To us it is very dreary, not to have seen him again, 
that he should have had none of us by him at the last ; 
no last word or message. 

" I feel this with regard to my dear father, and one 
who was more than mother to me, Mrs. Bracebridge, 
who went with me to the Crimean war, both of whom 
were taken from me last month. 

"How much more must we feel it, with regard to our 
great discoverer and hero, dying so far off! 

" But does he regret it? How much he must know 
now ! how much he must have enjoyed ! 

"Though how much we would give to know his 
thoughts, alone with God. during the latter davs of his 
life. 

• May we not say, with old Baxter (something altered 
from that verse) \ — 

My knowledge of that life is small, 

The eye of faith is dim ; 
But 'tis enough that Christ knows all, 

And he will be with Him. 



460 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. xxii. 

" Let us think only of him and of his present hap- 
piness, his eternal happiness, and may God say to us : 
' Let not your heart be troubled.' Let us exchange a ' 
' God bless you/ and fetch a real blessing from God in 
saying so. 

" Florence Nightingale." 



chap, xxiii.] POSTHUMOUS INFLUENCE. 461 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

POSTHUMOUS INFLUENCE. 

History of his life not completed at his death — Thrilling effect of the tragedy of 
Ilala— Livingstone's influence on the slave-trade —His letters from Manyuema 
— Sir Bartle Frere's mission to Zanzibar — Successful efforts of Dr. Kirk with 
Sultan of Zanzibar— The land route — The sea route — Slave-trade declared 
illegal— Egypt— The Soudan — Colonel Gordon — Conventions with Turkey — 
King Mtesa of Uganda — Nyassa district — Introduction of lawful commerce — 
Various commercial enterprises in progress — Influence of Livingstone on 
exploration — Enterprise of newspapers — Exploring undertakings of various 
nations— Livingstone's personal service to science — His hard work in science 
the cause of respect — His influence on missionary enterprise — Livingstonia — 
Dr. Stewart — Mr. E. D. Young — Blantyre — The Universities Mission under 
Bishop Steere — Its return to the mainland and to Nyassa district — Church 
Missionary Society at Xyanza — London Missionary Society at Tanganyika — 
French, Inland, Baptist, and American missions — Medical missions — The Fisk 
Livingstone hall — Livingstone's great legacy to Africa, a spotless Christian 
name and character — Honours of the future. 

The heart of David Livingstone was laid under the mvula 
tree in Ilala, and his bones in Westminster Abbey ; but 

spirit marched on. The history of his life is not com- 
pleted with the record of his death. The continual cry 
of his heart to be permitted to finish his work was 
answered, answered thoroughly, though not in the way 
he thought of. The thrill that went through the civilised 
world when his death and all its touching circumstances 

me known, did more for Africa than he could have 
done had he completed his task and spent years in this 
country following it up. From the worn-out figure 
kneeling at the bedside in the hut in Ilala, an electric 
spark seemed to fly, quickening hearts on every side. 
The statesman felt it ; it put new vigour into the 



462 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. 

despatches he wrote and the measures he devised with 
regard to the slave-trade. The merchant felt it, and 
began to plan in earnest how to traverse the continent 
with roads and railways, and open it to commerce from 
shore to centre. The explorer felt it, and started with 
high purpose on new scenes of unknown danger. The 
missionary felt it, — felt it a reproof of past languor and 
unbelief, and found himself lifted up to a higher level of 
faith and devotion. No parliament of philanthropy was 
held ; but the verdict was as unanimous and as hearty 
as if the Christian world had met and passed the resolu- 
tion — " Livingstone's work shall not die : — Afbica shall 
live." 

A rapid glance at the progress of events during the 
seven years that have elapsed since the death of Living- 
stone will show best what influence he wielded after 
his death. Whether we consider the steps that have 
been taken to suppress the slave-trade, the progress of 
commercial undertakings, the successful journeys of ex- 
plorers stimulated by his example who have gone from 
shore to shore, or the new enterprises of the various 
missionary bodies, carried out by agents with somewhat 
of Livingstone's spirit, we shall see what a wonderful 
revolution he effected, — -how entirely he changed the 
prospects of Africa. 

Livingstone himself had the impression that his long 
and weary detention in Manyuema was designed by 
Providence to enable him to know and proclaim to the 
world the awful horrors of the slave-trade. When his 
despatches and letters from that region were published 
in this country, the matter was taken up in the highest 
quarters. After the Queen's Speech had drawn the 
attention of Parliament to it, a Royal Commission, and 
then a Select Committee of the House of Commons, pre- 
pared the way for further action. Sir Bartle Frere was 
sent to Zanzibar, with the view of negotiating a treaty 



xxiii.] POSTHUMOUS INFLUENCE. 463 

with the Sultan, to render illegal all traffic in slaves by 
sea. Sir Bartle was unable to persuade the Sultan, but 
left the matter in the hands of Dr. Kirk, who succeeded 
in 1873 in negotiating the treaty, and got the shipment 
of slaves prohibited over a sea-board of nearly a thousand 
miles. But the slave-dealer was too clever to yield; 
for the route by sea he simply substituted a route by 
land, which, instead of diminishing the horrors of the 
traffic, actually made them greater. Dr. Kirk's energies 
had to be employed in getting the land traffic placed in 
the same category as that by sea, and here too he was 
successful, so that within the dominions of the Sultan 
of Zanzibar, the slave-trade, as a legal enterprise, came 
to an end. 

But Zanzibar was but a fragment of Africa. In no 
other part of the continent was it of more importance 
that the traffic should be arrested than in Egypt, and 
in parts of the Empire of Turkey in Africa under the 
control of the Sultan. The late Khedive of Egypt was 
hearty in the cause, less, perhaps, from dislike of the 
slave-trade, than from his desire to hold good rank among 
the Western powers, and to enjoy the favourable opinion 
of England. By far the most important contribution of 
the Khedive to the cause lay in his committing the vast 
region <>t* the Soudan to the hands of our countryman, 
Colonel Gordon, whose recent resignation of the office 

awakened so general regret. Hating the slave-trade, 
Colonel Gordon employed h is remarkable influence over 
native chiefs and tribes in discouraging it, and with great 
effect. To use his own words, recently spoken to a friend, 
he cut oft" the slave-dealers in their strongholds, and he 
made all his people love him. Few men, indeed, have 
shown more of Livingstone's spirit in managing t be natives 
than Gordon Pasha, or furnished better proof that for 
really doing away with the slave-trade more is needed 
than a good treai y — there must be a hearty and influential 



464 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. 

Executive to carry out its provisions. Our conventions 
with Turkey have come to little or nothing. They have 
shared the usual fate of Turkish promises. Even the 
convention announced with considerable confidence in the 
Queen's Speech on 5th February 1880, if the tenor of it 
be as it has been reported in the Temps newspaper, leaves 
far too much in the hands of the Turks, and unless it be 
energetically and constantly enforced by this country, 
will fail in its object. To this end, however, we trust 
that the attention of our Government will be earnestly 
directed. The Turkish traffic is particularly hateful, for 
it is carried on mainly for purposes of sensuality and 
show. 

The abolition of the slave-trade by King Mtesa, chief 
of Waganda, near Lake Victoria Nyanza, is one of the 
most recent fruits of the agitation. The services of 
Mr. Mackay, a countryman of Livingstone's, and an 
agent of the Church Missionary Society, contributed 
mainly to this remarkable result. 

Such facts show that not only has the slave-trade 
become illegal in some of the separate states of Africa, 
but that an active spirit has been roused against it, which, 
if duly directed, may yet achieve much more. The trade, 
however, breeds a reckless spirit, which cares little for 
treaties or enactments, and is ready to continue the traffic 
as a smuggling business after it has been declared illegal. 
In the Nyassa district, from which to a large extent it 
has disappeared, it is by no means suppressed. It is quite 
conceivable that it may revive after the temporary alarm 
of the dealers has subsided. The remissness, and even 
the connivance, of the Portuguese authorities has been a 
great hindrance to its abolition. All who desire to carry 
out the noble objects of Livingstone's life will therefore 
do well to urge her Majesty's Ministers, members of 
Parliament, and all who have influence, to renewed and 
unremitting efforts towards the complete and final aboli- 



xxiii.] POSTHUMOUS INFLUENCE. 465 

tion of the traffic throughout the whole of Africa, To 
this consummation the honour of Great Britain is con- 
spicuously pledged, and it is one to which statesmen of 
all parties have usually been proud to contribute. 

If we pass from the slave-trade to the promotion of 
lawful commerce, we find the influence of Livingstone 
hardly less apparent in not a few undertakings recently 
begun. Animated by the memory of his four months' 
fellowship with Livingstone, Mr. Stanley has under- 
taken the exploration of the Congo or Livingstone River, 
because it was a work, that Livingstone desired to be 
done. With a body of Kroomen and others he is now at 
work making a road from near Banza Noki to Stanley 
Pool. He takes a steamer in sections to be put together 
above the Falls, and with it he intends to explore and to 
open to commerce the numerous great navigable tribu- 
taries of the Livingstone River. Mr. Stanley has already 

blished steam communication between the French 
station near the mouth of the Congo and his own station 
near Banza Noki or Embomma. The " Livingstone 
Central African Company, Limited," with Mr. James 
Stevenson of Glasgow as chairman, has constructed a 
road along the Murchison Rapids, thus making the 
original route of Livingstone available between Quili- 
mane and the Nyassa district, and is doing much more 
to advance Christian civilisation. France, Belgium, Ger- 
many, and Italy, have all been active in promoting com- 
mercial schemes. A magnificent proposal has been made, 
under French auspices, for a railway across the Soudan. 
Tin 'iv is a proposal from Manchester to connect the great 
lakes with the sea by a railway from the coast opposite 
Zanzibar. Another scheme is for a railway from the 
Zambesi to Lake Nyassa. A telegraph through EgypJ has 
been projected, to the South African colonies of Britain, 

ing by Nyassa and Shire. An Italian colony on a large 
scale has been projected in the dominions of Menelek, 



466 DA VID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. 

king of Shoa, near the Somali land. Any statement of 
the various commercial schemes begun or contemplated 
would probably be defective, because new enterprises are 
so often appearing. But all this shows what a new light 
has burst on the commercial world as to the capabilities 
of Africa in a trading point of view. There seems, 
indeed, no reason why Africa should not furnish most of 
the products which at present we derive from India. As 
a market for our manufactures it is capable, even with a 
moderate amount of civilisation, of becoming one of our 
most extensive customers. The voice that proclaimed 
these things in 1857 was the voice of one crying in the 
wilderness ; but it is now repeated in a thousand echoes. 

In stimulating African exploration the influence of 
Livingstone was very decided. He was the first of the 
galaxy of modern African travellers, for both in the 
Geographical Society and in the world at large his name 
became famous before those of Baker, Grant, Speke, 
Burton, Stanley, and Cameron. Stanley, inspired first by 
the desire of finding him, became himself a remarkable 
and successful traveller. The same remark is applicable 
to Cameron. Not only did Livingstone stimulate professed 
geographers, but, what was truly a novelty in the annals 
of exploration, he set newspaper companies to open up 
Africa. The New York Herald, having found Livingstone, 
became hungry for new discoveries, and enlisting a 
brother-in-arms, Mr. Edwin Arnold and the Daily Tele- 
graph, the two papers united to send Mr. Stanley " to 
fresh woods and pastures new." Under the auspices of 
the African Exploration Society, and the directions of 
the Royal Geographical, Mr. Keith Johnston and Mr. 
Joseph Thomson undertook the exploration of the country 
between Dar es Salaam and Lake Nyassa, the former 
falling a victim to illness, the latter penetrating through 
unexplored regions to Nyassa, and subsequently extend- 
ing his journey to Tanganyika. We can but name the 



xxm.] POSTHUMOUS INFLUENCE. 467 

international enterprise resulting from the Brussels Con- 
ference ; the French researches of Lieutenant de Semelle 
and of de Brazza ; the various German expeditions of Dr. 
Lenz, Dr. Pogge, Dr. Fischer, and Herr Denhardts; and 
the Portuguese exploration on the west, from Benguela 
to the head waters of the ZambesjL Africa does not want 
for explorers, and generally they are men bent on advanc- 
ing legitimate commerce and the improvement of the 
people. It woidd be a comfort if we could think of all 
as having this for their object ; but tares, we fear, will 
always be mingled with the good seed ; and if there 
have been travellers who have led immoral lives and 
sought their own amusement only, and traders who by 
tratHcking in rum and such things have demoralised the 
natives, they have only shown that in some natures 
selfishness is too deeply imbedded to be affected by the 
noblest examples. 

Livingstone himself travelled twenty-nine thousand 
miles in Africa, and added to the known part of the 
globe about a million square miles. He discovered Lakes 
'Ngami, Shirwa, Nyassa, Moero, and Bangweolo ; the 
upper Zambesi, and many other rivers ; made known the 
wonderful Victoria Falls ; also the high ridges flanking 
the depressed basin of the central plateau ; he was the 
first European to traverse the whole length of Lake 
Tanganyika, and to give it its true orientation; he traversed 
in much pain and sorrow the vast watershed near Lake 
Bangweolo, and, through no fault of his own, just missed 
the information that would have set at rest all his sur- 
mises about the sources of the Nile. His discoveries were 
never mere happy guesses or vague descriptions from the 
accounts of natives ; each spot was determined with the 
utmost precision, though at the time his head might be 
giddy from fever or his body tormented with pain. He 
strove after an accurate notion of the form and structure 
of the continent ; investigated its geology, hydrography, 



4 68 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. 

botany, and zoology ; and grappled with the two great 
enemies of man and beast that prey on it — fever and 
tsetse. Yet all these were matters apart from the great 
business of his life. In science he was neither amateur 
nor dilettante, but a careful, patient, laborious worker. 
And hence his high position, and the respect he inspired 
in the scientific world. Small men might peck and 
nibble at him, but the true kings of science, — the 
Owens, Murchisons, Herschels, Sedgwicks, and Fergussons 
— honoured him the more the longer they knew him. 
We miss an important fact in his life if we do not take 
note of the impression which he made on such men. 

Last, but not least, we note the marvellous expansion 
of missionary enterprise in Africa since Livingstone's 
death. Though he used no sensational methods of appeal, 
he had a wonderful power to draw men to the mission 
field. In his own quiet way, he not only enlisted 
recruits, but inspired them with the enthusiasm of their 
calling. Not even Charles Simeon, during his long resi- 
dence at Cambridge, sent more men to India than Living- 
stone drew to Africa in his brief visit to the Universities. 
It seemed as if he suddenly awakened the minds of young 
men to a new view of the grand purposes of life. Mr. 
Monk wrote to him truly, " That Cambridge visit of yours 
lighted a candle which will never, never go out." 

At the time of his death there was no missionary at 
work in the great region of Shire and Nyassa on which 
his heart was so much set. The first to take possession 
were his countrymen of Scotland. The Livingstonia 
mission and settlement of the Free Church, planned by 
Dr. Stewart of Lovedale, who had gone out to reconnoitre 
in 1863, and begun in 1875, has now three stations on 
the lake, and has won the highest commendation of such 
travellers as the late Consul Elton. 1 Much of the success 
of this enterprise is due to Livingstone's old comrade, 
1 Lakes and Mountains of Africa, pp, 277.280. 



xxiii.] POSTHUMOUS INFLUENCE. 469 

Mr. E. D. Young, R.N., who led the party, and by his 
great experience and wonderful way of managing the 
natives, laid not only the founders of Livingstonia, but 
the friends of Africa, under obligations that have never 
been sufficiently acknowledged. 1 In concert with the 
•• Livingstone Central African Company/' considerable 
progress lias been made in exploring the neighbouring 
us. and the recent exploit of Mr. James Stewart, 
C.E., one of the lay helpers of the Mission, in traversing 
the country between Nyassa and Tanganyika, is an im- 
portant contribution to geography. 2 It would have 
gratified Livingstone to think that in conducting this 
settlement several of the Scotch Churches were practi- 
cally at one — Free, Reformed, and United Presbyterian ; 
while at Blantyre on the Shire the Established Church 
of Scotland, with a mission and a colony of mechanics, 
has taken its share in the work. 

Under Bishop Steere, the successor of Bishop Tozer, 
the Universities Mission has re-occupied part of the main- 
land, and the freed-slave village of Masasi, situated, be- 
tween the sea and Nyassa, to the north of the Bovuma, 
enjoys a measure of prosperity which has never been 
interrupted during the three or four years of its existence. 
< fther stations have been formed, or are projected, one of 
them on the eastern margin of the lake. The Church 
Missionary Society has occupied the shores of Victoria 
Nyanza, achieving great results amid many trials and 
sacrifices, at first wonderfully aided and encouraged by 
King Mtesa, though, as we write, we hear accounts of a 
change of policy which us grievously disappointing. Lake 
Tanganyika lias been occupied by the London Missionary 
Society. 

The "Societe des Missions Kvangcliques" of Paris has 
made preparations for occupying the Barotse valley, near 

1 See his work. Nyassa: London, 1877. 

Transactions of Royal Geographical Society, 1SC0. 



47 o DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. 

the head waters of the Zambesi, The Livingstone Inland 
Mission has some missionaries on the Atlantic coast at 
the month of the Congo, and others who are working 
inwards, while a monthly jonrnal is edited by Mrs. 
Grattan Guinness, entitled The Regions Beyond. The 
Baptist Missionary Society has a mission in the same 
district, towards the elucidation of which the Rev. J. T. 
Comber's Explorations Inland from Mount Cameroons 
and through Congo to Mhouta have thrown considerable 
light. 

More recently still, the American Board of Commis- 
sioners for Foreign Missions, having resolved to devote to 
Africa Mr. Otis' munificent bequest of a million dollars, 
appointed the Bev. Dr. Means to collect information as to 
the most suitable openings for missions in Central Africa ; 
and on his recommendation, after considering the claims 
of seven other localities, have decided to adopt as their 
field the region of Bihe and the Coanza, an upland tract 
to the east of Benguela, healthy and suitable for European 
colonisation, and as yet not occupied by any missionary 
body. Thus the old world and the new are joining their 
forces for the evangelisation of Africa. And they are 
not only occupying regions which Livingstone recom- 
mended, but are trying to work his principle of combining 
colonisation with missions, so as to give their people 
an actual picture of Christianity as it is exemplified in 
the ordinary affairs of life. 

Besides missions on the old principle, Medical Missions 
have received a great impulse through Livingstone. 
When mission work in Central Africa began to be seriously 
entertained, men like Dr. Laws, the late Dr. Black, and 
the late Dr. Smith, all medical missionaries, were among 
the first to offer their services. The Edinburgh Medical 
Mission made quite a new start when it gave the name of 
Livingstone to its buildings. Another institution that 
has adopted the name for a hall in which to train coloured 



xxiii.] POSTHUMOUS INFLUENCE. 471 

people for African work is the Fisk University, Tennessee, 
made famous by the Jubilee Singers. 

In glancing at these results of Livingstone's influence 
in the mission field, we must not forget that of all his 

sies to Africa by far the highest was the spotless 
name and bright Christian character which have become 

dated everywhere with its great missionary explorer. 
From the first day of his sojourn in Africa to the last, 
"patient continuance in well-doing" was the great charm 
through which he sought, with God's blessing, to win the 
confidence of Africa. Before the poorest African he 
maintained self-restraint and self-respect as carefully as 
in the best society at home. No prevailing relaxation of 
the moral code in those wild, dark regions ever lowered 
his tone or lessened his regard for the proprieties of 
Christian or civilised life. Scandal is so rampant among 
the natives of Africa that even men of high character 
have sometimes suffered from its lying tongue : but in 
the case of Li vino-stone there was such an enamel of 

o 

purity upon his character that no filth could stick to it, 
and none was thrown. What Livingstone did in order 
to keep his word to his poor ' attendants was a wonder in 
Africa, as it was the admiration of the world. His way 
of trusting them, too, was singularly winning. He would 
go up to a fierce chief, surrounded by his grinning 
warriors, with the same easy gait and kindly smile with 
which lie would have approached his friends at Kuruman 
or Hamilton. It was the highest tribute that the slave- 

o 

traders in the Zambesi district paid to his character 
when for their own vile ends they told the people that 
they were the children of Livingstone. It was the 
charm of his name that enabled Mr. E. I). Young, while 
engaged in founding the Livingstonia settlement, to 
obtain six hundred carriers to transport fehe pieces of the 
Ilala steamer past the Murchisorj ( Jataracts, carrying loads 
of great weight for forty miles, at six yards of calico 



472 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. 

each, without a single piece of the vessel being lost or 
thrown away. The noble conduct of the band that for 
eight months carried his remains towards the coast was a 
crowning proof of the love he inspired. 

Nearly every day some new token comes to light of 
the affection and honour with which he was regarded all 
over Central Africa. On 12th April 1880, the Rev. 
Chauncy Maples, of the Universities Mission, in a paper 
read to the Geographical Society, describing a journey to 
the Rovuma and the Makonde country, told of a man he 
found there, with the relic of an old coat over his right 
shoulder, evidently of English manufacture. It. turned 
out, from the man's statement, that ten years ago a white 
man, the donor of the coat, had travelled with him to 
Mataka's, whom to have once seen and talked with was 
to remember for life ; a white man who treated black men 
as his brothers, and whose memory would be cherished 
all along the Rovuma Valley after they were all dead and 
gone ; a short man with a bushy moustache, and a keen 
piercing eye, whose words were always gentle, and whose 
manners were always kind ; whom, as a leader, it was a 
privilege to follow, and who knew the way to the hearts 
of all men. 

That early and life-long prayer of Livingstone's — that 
he might resemble Christ — was fulfilled in no ordinary 
degree. It will be an immense benefit to all future mis- 
sionaries in Africa that, in explaining to the people what 
practical Christianity means, they will have but to point 
to the life and character of the man whose name will 
stand first among African benefactors in centuries to come. 
A foreigner has remarked that, "in the nineteenth 
century, the white has made a man out of the black ; 
in the twentieth century, Europe will make a world out 
of Africa." When that world is made, and generation 
after generation of intelligent Africans look back on its 
beginnings, as England looks back on the days of King 



xxm.] POSTHUMOUS INFLUENCE. 473 

Alfred, Ireland of St. Patrick, Scotland of St. Columba, or 
the United States of George Washington, the name that 
Avill be encircled by them with brightest honour is that 
of David Livingstone. Mabotsa, Chonuane, and Kolo- 
beng will be visited with thrilling interest by many a 
pilgrim, and some grand memorial pile in Ilala will mark 
the spot where his heart reposes. And when preachers 
and teachers speak of this man, when fathers tell their 
children what Africa owes to him, and when the ques- 
tion is asked what made him so great and so good, the 
answer will be, that he lived by the faith of the Son 
of God, and that the love of Christ constrained him to 
live and die for Africa. 



APPENDIX. 

No. I. 

EXTRACTS FROM TAPER ON " MISSIONARY SACRIFICES." ^ 

It is something to be a missionary. The morning stars sang 
together and all the sons of God shouted for joy, when they first 
saw the field which the first missionary was to fill. The great and 
terrible God, before whom angels veil their faces, had an Only 
Son, and He was sent to the habitable parts of the earth, as a 
missionary physician. It is something to be a follower, however 
feeble, in the wake of the Great Teacher and only Model Mission- 
ary that ever appeared among men ; and now that He is Head 
over all things, Xing of kings and Lord of lords, what commission 
is equal to that which the missionary holds from Him ? May we 
venture to invite young men of education, when laying down the 
plan of their lives, to take a glance at that of missionary ? We 
will magnify the office. 

The missionary is sent forth as a messenger of the Churches, 
after undergoing the scrutiny and securing the approbation of a 
host of Christian ministers, who, by their own talent and worth, 
have risen to the pastorate over the most intelligent and influential 
churches in the land, and who, moreover, can have no motive to 
influence their selection but the desire to secure the most efficient 
instrumentality for the missionary work. So much care and inde- 
pendent investigation are bestowed on the selection as to make it 
plain that extraneous influences can have but small power. No 
pastor can imagine that any candidate has been accepted through 
his recommendations, however warm these may have been; and 
the missionary may go forth to the heathen, satisfied that in the 
confidence of the directors he has a testimonial infinitely superior 



476 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. 

to letters-apostolic from the Archbishop of Canterbury, or even 
from the Vatican at Eome. A missionary, surely, cannot under- 
value his commission, as soon as it is put into his hands. 

But what means the lugubrious wail that too often bursts 
from the circle of his friends ? The tears shed might be excused 
if he were going to Norfolk Island at the Government expense. 
But sometimes the missionary note is pitched on the same key. 
The white cliffs of Dover become immensely dear to those who 
never cared for masses of chalk before. Pathetic plaints are 
penned about laying their bones on a foreign shore, by those who 
never thought of making aught of their bones at home. (Bone 
dust is dear nowhere, we think.) And then there is the never- 
ending talk and wringing of hands over missionary " sacrifices/' 
The man is surely going to be hanged, instead of going to serve 
in Christ's holy Gospel ! Is this such service as He deserves who, 
though rich, for our sakes became poor ? There is so much in the 
manner of giving ; some bestow their favours so gracefully, their 
value to the recipient is doubled. From others, a gift is as good 
as a blow in the face. Are we not guilty of treating our Lord 
somewhat more scurvily than we would treat our indigent fellow- 
men ? We stereotype the word " charity " in our language, as 
applicable to a contribution to His cause. " So many charities, — 
we cannot afford them." Is not the word ungraciously applied to 
the Lord Jesus, as if He were a poor beggar, and an unworthy one 
too ? His are the cattle on a thousand hills, the silver and the 
gold ; and worthy is the Lamb that was slain. We treat Him ill. 
Bipeds of the masculine gender assume the piping phraseology of 
poor old women in presence o£ Him before whom the Eastern 
Magi fell down and worshipped, — ay, and opened their treasures, 
and presented unto Him gifts : gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 
They will give their " mites " as if what they do give were their 
" all." It is utterly unfair to magnify the little we do for Him by 
calling it a sacrifice, or pretend we are doing all we can by assum- 
ing the tones of poor widows. He asks a willing mind, cheerful 
obedience ; and can we not give that to Him who made His 
Father's will in our salvation as His meat and His drink, till He 
bowed His head and gave up the ghost ? 

Hundreds of young men annually leave our shores as cadets. 
All their friends rejoice when they think of them bearing the 
commissions of our Queen. When any dangerous expedition is 



APPENDIX. 47 7 

planned by Government, more volunteers apply than are necessary 
to man it. On the proposal to send a band of brave men in search 
of Sir John Franklin, a full complement for the ships could have 
been procured of officers alone, without any common sailors. And 
what thousands rushed to California, from different parts of 
America, on the discovery of the gold ! How many husbands left 
their wives and families! How many Christian men tore them- 
selves away from all home endearments to suffer, and toil, and 
perish by cold and starvation on the overland route ! How many 
sank from fever and exhaustion on the banks of Sacramento ! 
Yet no word of sacrifices there. And why should we so regard all 
we give and do for the Well-beloved of our souls ? Our talk of 
sacrifices is ungenerous and heathenish. . . . 

It is something to be a missionary. He is sometimes inclined, 
in seasons of despondency and trouble, to feel as if forgotten. But 
for whom do more prayers ascend ? — prayers from the secret place, 
and from those only who are known to God. Mr. Moffat met those 
in England who had made his mission the subject of special prayer 
for more than twenty years, though they had no personal knowledge 
of the missionary. Through the long fifteen years of no success, 
of toil and sorrow, these secret ones were holding up his hands. 
And who can tell how often his soul may have been refreshed 
through their intercessions ? . . . 

It is something to be a missionary. The heart is expanded and 
filled with generous sympathies ; sectarian bigotry is eroded, and 
the spirit of reclusion which makes it doubtful if some denomina- 
tions have yet made np their minds to meet those who differ with 
them in heaven, loses much of its fire. . . . 

There are many puzzles and entanglements, temptations, trials, 
and perplexities, which tend to inure the missionary's virtue. 
The difficulties encountered prevent his faith from growing languid. 
He must walk by faith, and though the horizon be all dark and 
lowering, he must lean on Him whom having not seen he loves. 
The future — a glorious future — is that for which he labours. It 
lies before him as we have Been the lofty coast of Brazil. No chink 
in the tree-covered rocks appears to the seaman ; but he glides 
right on. He works toward the coast, and when he enters the 
gateway by the sugar-loaf hill, there opens to the view in the 
Bay of Rio a scene of luxuriance and beauty unequalled in the 
world beside, 



478 DAVID LIVINGSTONE, 

The missionary's head will lie low, and others will have entered 
into his labours, before his ideal is realised. The Future for which 
he works is one which, though sure, has never yet been seen. 
The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the 
Lord. The missionary is a harbinger of the good time coming. 
When he preaches the Gospel to a tribe which has long sat in 
darkness, the signs of the coming of the Son of Man are displayed. 
The glorious Sun of Eighteousness is near the horizon. He is the 
herald of the dawn, for come He will whose right it is to reign ; 
and what a prospect appears, when we think of the golden age 
which has not been, but must yet come ! Messiah has sat on the 
Hill of Zion for 1800 years. He has been long expecting that 
His enemies shall be made His footstool ; and may we not expect, 
too, and lift up our heads, seeing the redemption of the world 
draweth nigh ? The bow in the cloud once spread its majestic 
arch over the smoke of the fat of lambs ascending as a sweet- 
smelling savour before God — a sign of the covenant of peace — and 
the flickering light of the Shechinah often intimated the good-will 
of Jehovah. But these did not more certainly show the presence 
of the Angel of the Covenant than does the shaking among the 
nations the presence and energy of God's Holy Spirit ; and to be 
permitted to rank as a fellow-worker with Him is a mercy of 
mercies* Xove Divine ! how cold is our love to Thee ! True, 
the missionary of the present day is only a stepping-stone to the 
future ; but wlaat a privilege he possesses ! He is known to 
" God manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, 
preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up 
into glory." Is that not enough ? *). 

Who would not be a missionary ? jHis noble enterprise is in 
exact accordance with the spirit of the age, and what is called the 
spirit of the age is simply the movement of multitudes of minds 
in the same direction. They move according to the eternal and 
all-embracing decrees of God. The spirit of the age is one of 
benevolence, and it manifests itself in numberless ways — ragged 
schools, baths and wash-houses, sanitary reform, etc. Hence 
missionaries do not live before their time. Their great idea of 
converting the world to Christ is no chimera : it is Divine. Chris- 
tianity will triumph. It is equal to all it has to perform. It is 
not mere enthusiasm to imagine a handful of missionaries capable 
of converting the millions of India. How often they are cut off 



APPENDIX. 479 

just after they have acquired the language ! How often they 
retire with broken-down constitutions before effecting anything ! 
How often they drop burning tears over their own feebleness amid 
the defections of those they believed to be converts ! Yes ! but 
that small band lias the decree of God on its side. Who has not 
admired the band of Leonidas at the pass of Thermopylae ? Three 
hundred against three million. Japhet, with the decree of God on 
his side, only 300 strong, contending for enlargement with Shem 
and his 3,000,000. Consider what has been effected during the 
last fifty years. There is no vaunting of scouts now. No Indian 
gentlemen making themselves merry about the folly of thinking to 
convert the natives of India ; magnifying the difficulties of caste ; 
and setting our ministers into brown studies and speech-making 
in defence of missions. No mission has yet been an entire failure. 
We who see such small segments of the mighty cycles of God's 
providence often imagine some to be failures which God does not. 
Eden was such a failure. The old world was a failure under Noah's 
preaching. Elijah thought it was all up with Israel. Isaiah said: 
* Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the 
Lord revealed ? " And Jeremiah wished his head were waters, his 
eyes a fountain of tears, to weep over one of God's plans for diffus- 
ing His knowledge among the heathen. If we could see a larger 
arc of the great providential cycle, we might sometimes rejoice 
when we weep ; but God giveth not account of any of His matters. 
We must just trust to His wisdom. Let us do our duty. He will 
work out a glorious consummation. Fifty years ago missions could 
not lift up their heads. But missions now are admitted by all to 
be one of the great facts of the age! and the sneers about "Exeter 
Hall " are seen by every one to emoody a risus sardonicus.\ The 
present posture of affairs is, that benevolence is popular. God is 
working out in the human heart His great idea, and all nations 
shall see His glory. . . . 

Let us think highly of the weapons we have received for the 
accomplishment of our work. The weapons of our warfare are not 
carnal but spiritual, and mighty through God to the casting down 
of strongholds. They are — Faith in our Leader, and in the pre- 
sence of His Holy Spirit; a full, free, unfettered Gospel; the 
doctrine of the cross of Christ, — an old story, but containing the 
mightiest truths ever uttered — mighty for pulling down the strong- 
holds of sin, and giving liberty to the captives. The story of 



480 DA VI D LIVINGSTONE. 

Redemption, of which Paul said, " I am not ashamed of the gospel 
of Christ," is old, yet in its vigour, eternally young. 

This work requires zeal for God and love for souls. It needs 
prayer from the senders and the sent, and firm reliance on Him 
who alone is the Author of conversion. Souls cannot be converted 
or manufactured to order. Great deeds are wrought in uncon- 
sciousness, from constraining love to Christ; in humbly asking, 
Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do ? in the simple feeling, we 
have done that which was our duty to do. They effect works, the 
greatness of which it will remain for posterity to discern. The 
greatest works of God in the kingdom of grace, like His majestic 
movements in nature, are marked by stillness in the doing of them, 
and reveal themselves by their effects. They come up like the 
sun, and show themselves by their own light. The kingdom of 
God cometh not with observation. Luther simply followed the 
leadings of the Holy Spirit in the struggles of his own soul. He 
wrought out what the inward impulses of his own breast prompted 
him to work, and behold, before he was aware, he was in the midst 
of the Eeformation. So, too, it was with the Plymouth pilgrims, 
with their sermons three times a day on board the Mayflower. 
Without thinking of founding an empire, they obeyed the sublime 
teachings of the Spirit, the promptings of duty and the spiritual 
life. God working mightily in the human heart is the spring of 
all abiding spiritual power; and it is only as men follow out the 
sublime promptings of the inward spiritual life, that they do great 
things for God. 

The movement of not one mind only, but the consentaneous 
movement of a multitude of minds in the same direction, consti- 
tutes what is called the spirit of the age. This spirit is neither 
the law of progress nor blind development, but God's all-eternal, 
all-embracing purpose, the doctrine which recognises the hand of 
God in all events, yet leaves all human action free. When God 
prepared an age for a new thought, the thought is thrust into the 
age as an instrument into a chemical solution — the crystals cluster 
round it immediately. If God prepares not, the man has lived 
before his time. Huss and Wycliffe were like voices crying in the 
wilderness, preparing the way for a brighter future ; the time had 
not yet come. 

Who would not be a missionary ? " They that be wise shall 
shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many . 



APPEND IX. 481 

to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." Is God not pre- 
paring the world for missions which will embrace the whole of 
Adam's family ? The gallant steamships circumnavigate the globe. 
Emigration is going on at a rate to which the most renowned 
crusades of antiquity bear no proportion. Many men go to and 
fro, and knowledge is increased. No great emigration ever took 
place in our world without accomplishing one of God's great 
designs. The tide of the modern emigration flows towards the 
West. The wonderful amalgamation of races will result in some- 
thing grand. We believe this, because the world is becoming 
better, and because God is working mightily in the human mind. 
"We believe it, because God has been preparing the world for 
something glorious. And that something, we conjecture, will be a 
fuller development of the missionary idea and work. 

There will yet be a glorious consummation of Christianity. 
The last fifty years have accomplished wonders. On the American 
Continent, what a wonderful amalgamation of races we have wit- 
nessed, how wonderfully they have been fused into that one American 
people — type and earnest of a larger fusion which Christianity will 
yet accomplish, when, by its blessed power, all tribes and tongues 
and races shall become one holy family. The present popularity 
of beneficence promises well for the missionary cause in the future. 
Men's hearts are undergoing a process of enlargement. Their 
sympathies are taking a wider scope. The world is getting closer, 
smaller — quite a compact affair. The world for Christ will yet be 
realised. " The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the 
Lord as the waters cover the sea." 



No. II. 

TREATMENT OF AFRICAN FEVER. 

In July 1859, when the expedition to the Zambesi had been 
there about a year, Dr. Livingstone drew up and forwarded 
to Sir James Clark, Bart., M.D., a very full report on the treatment 
of African fever. The report details at length a large number of 

2h 



482 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. 

cases, the circumstances under which the attack was experienced, 
the remedies administered, and their effects. In order to ward off 
the disease in the mangrove swamps, which were justly described 
as hotbeds of fever, a dose of quinine was administered daily to each 
European, amounting to two grains, and taken in sherry wine. 
When an attack of the disease occurred, and the stomach did not 
refuse the remedies, Dr. Livingstone administered a dose of calomel 
with resin of jalap, followed by quinine. These remedies were in 
almost all cases successful, and the convalescence of the patient was 
wonderfully rapid. The "pills" which Dr. Livingstone often 
referred to were composed of resin of jalap, calomel, rhubarb, and 
quinine. It was usually observed that active employment kept 
off fever, and that on high lands its attacks were much less violent. 
Where the stomach refused the remedies a blister was usually the 
most effectual means of stopping the sickness. 

Experience did not confirm the prophylactic action of quinine ; 
exemption from attack in unfavourable situations was rather 
ascribed to active exercise, good diet, and to absence of damp, 
exposure to sun, and excessive exertion. Even while navigating an 
unhealthy part of the Shire, and while, owing to the state of the 
vessel, the beds were constantly damp, good health was enjoyed, 
owing to regular exercise and good fare. 

In the upper regions of the Shire, Dr. Livingstone says he and 
his companions were exposed in the early hours of the morning to 
the dew from the long grass, marching during the day over rough 
country under the tropical sun, and then sleeping in the open air ; 
but though they had discontinued the daily use of quinine they 
were perfectly well, as were also their native attendants. This 
was one of the considerations that gave him such confidence in the 
healthiness of the Shire highlands. 

Two or three years later, in writing to a friend, Dr. Livingstone 
thanked him for having sent him a missionary journal, which he 
greatly enjoyed — The News of the Churches and Journal of Missions. 
To show the very unusual pleasure which this journal gave him, 
he proposed to send a communication to the editor, but said he 
was somewhat afraid to do so, lest it should meet the fate of 
many a paper forwarded to editors at an earlier period of his life. 
Mustering courage, he did send a letter, and we find it in the 
number of the journal for August 1862. It is entitled "A Note 
that may be useful to Missionaries in Africa," and consists of a 



APPEXDIX. 4«3 

statement of the remedy for fever, and an account of its operation. 
He had been led to think of this from seeing in the Ncivs of the 
Churches for February 18G1 a reference to his remedy in an account 
of the death of the Helmores. The proportions of the several 
ingredients are given — " for a full-grown man six or eight grains of 
resin of jalap, and the same amount of rhubarb, with four grains 
of calomel, and four of quinine, made into pills with spirit of 
cardamoms. On taking effect, quinine (not the unbleached kind), 
in four grains or larger doses is given every two hours or so, till 
the ears ring, or deafness ensues ; this last is an essential part of 
the cure." 

The last part of the letter is a description of Lake Nyassa, and 
a statement of its importance for purposes of civilisation and 
Christianity. 

The News of the Churches was projected in 1854 by the 
late Rev. Andrew Cameron, D.D., and the present writer, and 
conducted by them for a time ; in 1862 it was in the hands of the 
Iiev. Gavin Carlyle, now of Ealing. 



No. III. 

LETTER TO DR. TIDMAN, AS TO FUTURE OPERATIONS. 

Quilimane, 23i May 1856. 

The Rev. Dr. Tidman. 

Dear Sir, — Having by the good providence of our Heavenly 
Father reached this village on the 20th curt., I was pleased to find 
a silence of more than four years broken by your letter of the 
24th August 1855. I found also that H.M.'s brigantine " Dart" 
had called at this port several times in order to offer me a pas-age 
homewards, but on the last occasion in which this most friendly 
act was performed, her commander, with an officer of marines and 
five seamen, were unfortunately lost on the very dangerous bar at 
the mouth of the Quilimane river. This sad event threw a cold 
Bhade over all the joy 1 might otherwise have experienced on 
reaching the Eastern Coast. I felt as if it would have been easier 
for me to have died for them than to bear the thought of so many 



484 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. 

being cut off from all the joys of life in generously attempting to 
render me a service. As there is no regular means of proceeding 
from this to the Cape, I remain here in the hope of meeting another 
cruiser, which the kindness of Commodore Trotter has led me to 
expect, in preference to going by a small Arab or Portuguese 
trading vessel to some point on the "overland route to India." 
And though I may possibly reach you as soon as a letter, it appears 
advisable to state in writing my thoughts respecting one or two 
very important points in your communication. 

Accompanied by many kind expressions of approbation, which 
I highly value on account of having emanated from a body of men 
whose sole object in undertaking the responsibility and labour of 
the Direction must have been a sincere desire to promote the 
interests of the kingdom of our Lord among the heathen, I find 
the intimation that the Directors are restricted in their power of 
aiding plans connected only remotely with the spread of the 
gospel. And it is added also, that even though certain very 
formidable obstacles should prove surmountable, the "financial 
circumstances of the Society are not such as to afford any ground 
of hope that it would be, within any definite period, in a position 
to enter upon untried, remote, and difficult fields of labour." 

If I am not mistaken, these statements imply a resolution on 
the part of the gentlemen now in the Direction to devote the 
decreasing income of the Society committed to their charge to 
parts of the world of easy access, and in which the missionaries 
may devote their entire time and energies to the dissemination of 
the truths of the gospel with reasonable hopes of speedy success. 
This, there can be no doubt, evinces a sincere desire to perform 
their duty faithfully to their constituents, to the heathen, and to 
our Lord and Master. Yet while still retaining that full convic- 
tion of the purity of their motives, which no measure adopted 
during the sixteen years of my connection with the Society has 
for a moment disturbed, I feel constrained to view " the untried, 
remote, and difficult fields," to which I humbly yet firmly believe 
God has directed my steps, with a resolution widely different from 
that which their words imply. As our aims and purposes will now 
appear in some degree divergent — on their part from a sort of 
paralysis caused by financial decay, and on mine from the simple 
continuance of an old determination to devote my life and my all 
to the service of Christ, in whatever way He may lead me in inter- 



APPENDIX. 485 

tropical Africa — it seems natural, while yet without the remotest 
idea of support from another source, to give some of the reasons for 
differing with those with whom I have hitherto been so happily 
connected. 

It remains vividly on my memory that some twenty years ago, 
while musing how I might spend my life so as best to promote the 
glory of the Lord Jesus, I came to the conclusion that from the 
cumulative nature of gospel influence the outskirts even of the 
Empire of China presented the most inviting field for evangelical 
effort in the world. I was also much averse to being connected 
with any Society, having a strong desire to serve Christ in circum- 
stances which would free my service from all professional aspect. 
But the solicitations of friends in whose judgment I had confidence 
led to my offers of service to the London Missionary Society. The 
" Opium War " was then adduced as a reason why that remote, 
difficult, and untried field of labour should stand in abeyance before 
the interior of Africa, to which, in opposition to my own judgment, 
I was advised to proceed. I did not, however, go with any sort of 
reluctance, for I had great respect for the honoured men by whom 
the advice was given, and unbounded confidence in the special 
providence of Him who has said, " Commit thy way unto the Lord, 
etc. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy 
steps." I was contented with the way in which I had been led, 
and happy in the prospect of being made instrumental in winning 
some souls to Christ. 

The Directors wished me to endeavour to carry the gospel to the 
tribes north of the Kuruman. Having remained at that station 
sufficient time only to recruit my oxen, I proceeded in the direction 
indicated, and while learning the language I visited the Bakhatla, 
Bakwains, Bangwaketse, and Bamangwato tribes, in order to select 
a suitable locality for a mission, in the hope of succeeding in 
making a second Kuruman or central station, which would, by 
God's blessing, influence a large circumference. I chose Mabotsa, 
and no one who has seen that country since has said the choice 
was injudicious. The late Rev. Dr. Philip alone was opposed to 
this plan on account of solicitude for my safety, " because Mosili- 
katse was behind the Cashan mountains thirsting for the blood of 
the first white man who should fall into his hands. And no man 
would in his sober senses build his house on the crater of a 
volcano." Having removed to the Bakwains of Sechele, I spent 



486 DA V1D LIVINGSTONE. 

some of the happiest years of my life in missionary labour, and 
was favoured in witnessing a gratifying measure of success in the 
spread of the knowledge of the gospel. The good seed was widely 
sown, and is not lost. It will yet bear fruit, though I may not live 
to see it. In the pursuit of my plan I tried to plant among the 
tribes around by means of native teachers and itineracies. We 
have heard again and again of a " preparatory work going on " in 
India, but who ever heard of such in Africa ? A village of 600 or 
800 may have one, or even two missionaries, with schoolmasters 
and schoolmistresses, and the nearest population, fifty or one 
hundred miles off, cannot feel their influence. Believers will not, 
in many cases, go beyond the circle of their own friends and 
acquaintances. 

I was happy in having two worthy men of colour to aid me in 
diffusing a knowledge of Christ among the Eastern tribes, but the 
Boers forbade us to preach unto the Gentiles that they might be 
saved. My attention was turned to Sebituane by Sechele at the 
very time this happened, but I had no intention of leaving the 
Bakwains. Droughts succeeded, and these, with perpetual threats 
and annoyances from the Boers, so completely distracted the 
mind of the tribe that our operations were almost suspended. It 
is well known that food for the mind has but little savour for 
starving stomachs. The famine, and the unmistakable deter- 
mination of the Boers to enslave my people, at last made me look 
to the north seriously. There was no precipitancy. Letters went 
to and from India respecting my project before resolving to leave, 
and I went at last, after being obliged to send my family to 
Kuruman in order to be out of the way of a threatened attack of 
the Boers. When we reached Lake 'JSTgami, about which so much 
has been said, I immediately asked for guides to take me to 
Sebituane, because to form a settlement in which the gospel might 
be planted was the great object for which I had come. Guides 
were refused, and the Bayeiye were prevented from ferrying me 
across the Zouga. I made a raft, but after working in the water 
for hours it would not carry me. (I have always been thankful, 
since I knew how alligators abound there, that I was not then 
killed by one.) Next year affairs were not improved at Kolobeng, 
and while attempting the north again fever drove us back. In 
both that and the following year I took my family with me in 
order to obviate the loss of time which returning for them would 



APPENDIX. 487 

occasion. The Boers subsequently, by relieving me of all my 
goods, freed me from the labour of returning to Kolobeng at all. 

Of the circumstances attending our arrival at Sebituane's, and 
the project of opening up a path to the coast, you are already so 
fully aware, from having examined and awarded your approbation, 
I need scarcely allude to it. Double the time has been expended 
to that which I anticipated, but as it chiefly arose from sickness, 
the loss of time was unavoidable. The same cause produced 
interruptions in preaching the gospel — as would have been the 
case had I been indisposed anywhere else. 

The foregoing short notices of all the plans wdiich I can bring 
to my recollection since my arrival in Africa lead me to the 
question, which of the plans it is that the Directors particularise 
when they say they are restricted in their pow r er of aiding plans 
only remotely connected with the spread of the gospel. It cannot 
be the last surely, for I had their express approval before leaving 
Cape Town, and they yield to none in admiration of the zeal with 
which it has been executed. Then which is it ? 

As it cannot be meant to apply in the way of want of funds 
deciding the suspension of operations which would make the 
connection remote enough with the spread of the gospel by us, I 
am at a loss to understand the phraseology, and therefore trust 
that the difficulty may be explained. The difficulties are men- 
tioned in no captious spirit, though, from being at a loss as to the 
precise meaning of the terms, I may appear to be querulous. I am 
not conscious of any diminution of the respect and affection with 
which I have always addressed you. — I am, yours affectionately, 

David Liylnustox. 



No. IV. 

LORD CLARENDON'S LETTER TO SEKELETU. 

From The Earl of CLARENDON, Principal Secretary of State for 
Foreign Affairs of Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain, 
to our esteemed Friend Sekeeetu, Chief of the Makololo, in 
South Central Africa. 

The Queen our Sovereign and the British Government have 
learnt with much pleasure from Her Majesty's servant, Dr. Living- 



488 DAVID LIVINGSTONE. 

stone, the kind manner in which you co-operated with him in his 
endeavours to find a path from your country to the sea on the 
West Coast, and again, when he was following the course of the 
river Zambesi from your town to the Eastern Coast, by furnishing 
him on each occasion with canoes, provisions, oxen, and men, free 
of expense ; and we were pleased to hear that you, your elders 
and people, are all anxious to have direct intercourse with the 
English nation, and to have your country open to commerce and 
civilisation. 

Ours is a great commercial and Christian nation, and we desire 
to live in peace with all men. We wish others to sleep soundly 
as well as ourselves : and we hate the trade in slaves. We are all 
the children of one common Father; and the slave-trade being 
hateful to Him, we give you a proof of our desire to promote your 
prosperity by joining you in the attempt to open up your country 
to peaceful commerce. With this view the Queen sends a small 
steam-vessel to sail along the river Zambesi, which you know and 
agreed to be the best pathway for conveying merchandise, and for 
the purpose of exploring which Dr. Livingstone left you the last 
time. This is, as all men know, " God's pathway;" and you will, 
we trust, do all that you can to keep it a free pathway for all 
nations, and let no one be molested when travelling on the 
river. 

We are a manufacturing people, and make all the articles which 
you see and hear of as coming from the white men. We purchase 
cotton and make it into cloth ; and if you will cultivate cotton 
and other articles,. we are willing to buy them. No matter how 
much you may produce, our people will purchase it all. Let it be 
known among all your people, and among all the surrounding 
tribes, that the English are the friends and promoters of all lawful 
commerce, but that they are the enemies of the slave-trade and 
slave-hunting. 

We assure you, your elders and people, of our friendship, and 
we hope that the kindly feelings which you entertain towards the 
English may be continued between our children's children ; and, 
as we have derived all our greatness from the Divine religion we 
received from Heaven, it will be well if you consider it carefully 
when any of our people talk to you about it. 

We hope that Her Majesty's servants and people will be able 
to visit you from time to time in order to cement our friendship, 



APPENDIX. 489 

and to promote mutual welfare ; and, in the meantime, we recom- 
mend you to the protection of the Almighty. 

Written at London, the nineteenth day of February 1858. — 

Your affectionate friend, ~ 

Clarendon. 

Letters similar to the above were sent to many of the other 
chiefs known to Livingstone. 



Xo. V. 

rUBLIC HONOURS AWARDED TO DR. LIVINGSTONE. 

A complete list of these honours is not easy to construct; the 
following may be regarded as embracing the chief, but it does not 
embrace mere addresses presented to him, of which there were 
many : — 

1830. Royal Geographical Society of London award him the Royal 
Donation of 25 guineas, placed by Her Majesty at the disposal 
of the Council (Silver Chronometer). 

185 4. French Geographical Society award a Silver Medal. 

1 854. University of Glasgow confer degree of LL.D. 

1855. Royal Geographical Society of London award Patron's Gold 

Medal. 

1857. French Geographical Society award annual prize for the most 
important geographical discovery. 

1 S57. Freedom of City of London, in box of value of fifty guineas, as a 
testimonial in recognition of his zealous and persevering exer- 
tions in the important discoveries he has made in Africa, by 
which geographical, geological, and their kindred sciences have 
been advanced; facts ascertained that may extend the trade 
and commerce of this country, and hereafter secure to the 
native tribes of the vast African continent the blessings of 
knowledge and civilisation. 

1857. Freedom of City of Glasgow, presented in testimony of admira- 
tion of his undaunted intrepidity and fortitude amid diffi- 
culties, privations, and dangers, during a period of many 
years, while traversing an extensive region in the interior of 
Africa, hitherto unexplored by Europeans, and of appreciation 
of the importance of his services, extending to the fostering 
of commerce, the advancement of civilisation, and the diffusion 
of Christianity among heathen nations. 



4QO DAVID LIVINGSTONE. 

1857. Freedom of City of Edinburgh, of Dundee, and many other towns. 

1857. Corresponding Member of American Geographical and Statis- 
tical Society, New York. 

1857. Corresponding Member of Royal Geographical Society of 
London. 

1857. Corresponding Member of the Geographical Society of Paris. 

1857. Corresponding Member of the K. K. Geographical Society of 
Vienna. 

1857. The Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow "elect that 
worthy, eminent, and learned Surgeon and Naturalist, David 
Livingstone, LL.D., to be an Honorary Fellow." 

1857. Medal awarded by the Universal Society for the Encouragement 
of Arts and Industry. 

1857. University of Oxford confer degree of D.C.L. 

1857. Elected F.RS. 

1858. Appointed Commander of Zambesi Expedition and Her 

Majesty's Consul at Tette, Quilimane, and Senna. 

1872. Gold Medal awarded by Italian Geographical Society. 

1874. A memoir of Livingstone having been read by the Secretary at 
a meeting of the Eussian Geographical Society, cordially 
recognising his merit, the whole assembly — a very large one 
— by rising, paid a last tribute of respect to his memory. — 
Lancet, 7th March 1874. 

Any omissions in this list notified to the author will be supplied 
in future editions. 



INDEX. 



Abyssinia, 41, 51, 352. 

Aeaeias, 40. 

Aden, 451. 

African Exploration Society, 46G. 
Ajawa, -285, 286, 2S9, 294. 296, 313. 
Alexander, Captain Sir James E., 103. 
Alexandria, 3.'>7, 451. 
Algoa Bay, 37, 39. 
Alington, Rev. Charles, 314, 31G. 
Aliwal, 310. 

Alligators, 101, 158, 268. 
Aloes, 40, 440. 
Ambaca, 167. 

American Foreign Mission Board, 470. 
Amoda, a Shupanga man, 370. 
Anderson's College, Glasgow, 20. 
la, 191, 202, 268,442. 

Antelopes. 106. 

Ants, 276, 277, 414 ; attack by, 440. 

Apples, 396. 

Apricots, 396. 

Arabs, slave-traders, 118, 323, 372, 374, 
378, 385, 391, 443; travel across 
Africa, 193 ; dhow on Lake Xyassa, 
28S ; character and religion of, 317, 
43S ; kindness of Arab traders to 
Livingstone, 3S4, 413 ; Livingstone 
condemns evil deeds of, 401 ; massacre 
of Bagenya by, 410; Livingstone 
plundered by, 388, 412 ; war with 
Mirambo, 419, 4."!0, 411 ; Livingstone 
wins hearts of, 42."!. 

Argyll, Duke of, 5, 236, 262, 312, J53. 
"Ariel," H.M.S., 325-327. 
Arnold, Edwin, 466. 
Arrowsmitb, .John, 450. 

pias, 1 10. 
Asbtun, Rev. Wm., 123. 

"Athena-iii, i." 214, 366. 

Aven, Commissioner, 135. 
Awatbe, 408. 

Baba, 71. 
Baenda-Pezi, 270. 

18 et ■-:"/., 13 \ 'I ■-";. 
Bagenya, 410. 



Baines, Thomas, 230, 252. 

Bakaa, 48, 55. 

Bakalahari, 54, 123. 

Baker, Sir Samuel, 360, 466. 

Bakhalaka, 80. 

Bakhatla, 53, 58, 60, 62, 65, 77, 134. 

Bakoba, 102, 106. 

Bakuss, 411. 

Bakwains, 45, 54, 55, 76, 81, 87, 9'.), 

104, 120 etset/., 134, 142, 194, 3U4. 
Ballantyne, R. M., 322. 
Balonda, 173. 
Balsams, 440. 

Bamangwato, 47, 106, 123, 
Bambarre, 392, 401, 407. 
Banana, 394. 

Bandeira, Viscount de Sa da, 30S. 
Bangwaketse, 134. 
Bangwe, 319. 
Bangweolo, Lake, or Bemba, 383, 385- 

387, 390, 396, 398,414, 425, 434, 436, 

439, 442, 453, 467 ; discovery of, 3S6. 
Banians, 407, 409, 411, 443. 
Banyamwezi, 397, 410, 4 42. 
Bacza Xoki, 465. 
Baobab-tree, 299. 
Baptist Missionary Society, 470. 
Barotse, 122, 141 et 8eq., 153 et seq. t 

174,207, 469. 
Basango, 399. 
Basbinge, 172. 
Bashu-kiilompo, 1S9. 
Bath, 212, 295. 

ISazimka (Bastard Portuguese), ISO. 
Bazizulu, 271. 
Beatoun, physician to the Lord of the 

Isles, 2. 
Bechnana, 39 et seq., 81, 106, 128, 191, 

417, 428. 
Bedingfield, Commander, R.N., 230. 

Bee-eater, 277- 

Beer, 142. 
Bellevne, 114. 
Beloocb< es, 351. 
Belshore, forays of, 308. 

Bemba, Lake. .V" Bangweolo. 



492 



INDEX. 



Benguela, 192, 193, 280, 466, 470. 

St. Philip de, 145. 

Bennett, Rev. Dr., 31. 

James Gordon, junior, 413, 417, 

428, 441. 

J. Risdon, M.D., 31, 61, 86 ; letter 

to, 50, 54; recollections by, 31, 32, 
211. 

Bible, 6, 52, 55, 77, 123, 126, 138, 155, 
158, 186, 194, 277, 333, 401, 403. 

Bihe, 470. 

Birmey, Rev. Dr., 29. 

Black, Rev. Dr., 470. 

Blantyre, in Lanarkshire, 4 et seq., 16, 
17, 20, 36, 124, 210, 220, 223. 

on the Shire, 469. 

Boers drive Mosilikatse westward, 43, 
79 ; found Transvaal republic, 78 ; 
policy towards natives, 80 et seq., 136, 
172 ; turn out missionaries, 106, 162, 
210 ; raids on Kolobeng, 110, 121, 
133 et seq., 194 ; attack Sechele, 126 ; 
Livingstone exposes in papers, 127, 
128 ; slave-trade among the, 135. 

Bogs, or earth sponges, 386, 414, 415, 
440. 

Bombay, 247, 322, 328 et seq., 361 et seq., 
427 ; missionary institutions at, 336. 

Bishop of, 361. 

Bootchap, fossils of, 83. 

Botany. See Acacia, Aloes, Apples, Apri- 
cots, Asclepias, Balsams, Banana, Bao- 
bab-tree, Carnivorous plants, Cassaba, 
Castor-oil, Clematis, Coffee, Cotton, 
Dill, Ergot o\ l'ye, Gladiolus, Ground- 
nuts, Gum-copal, Holcuserghum, India- 
rubber, Indigo, Maize, Manioc, Mapira, 
Marigolds, Methonica gloriosa, Mimo- 
sa, Myonga-tree, Mvula-tree, Orchids, 
Palm, Palm-oil, Papyrus, Parsnips, 
Peaches, Peas, Plantain, Polygalas, 
Pomegranate flowers, Potatoes (sweet), 
Pumpkins, Spiderwort, Sugar-caue, 
Tobacco, Wheat, Yams. 

Botha, trial of, 129. 

Bourbon, 254. 

Bowen, Dr., of Sierra Leone, 267. 

Boyd, Rev. D. C, recollections by, 362. 

Braithwaite, J. B., 229, 255, 267. 

Brand, Consul, 203. 

Brazza, M. de, 467. 

Brebner, Mr., 368. 

" British and Foreign Medical Preview," 
82. 

British Association at Bath, 212, 342 ; 
at Brighton, 431 ; at Dublin, 217, 230 ; 
at Sheffield, 206. 



" British Banner," 96, 127. 

" British Quarterly Review," 127. 

Brougham, Lord, 130. 

Broughton, Lord, 339. 

Brown, Alexander, recollections by, 363. 

Bubi, 45, 48, 54, 76 ; death of, 47. 

Buchan, Rev. Mr., 343. 

Buchanan, Dr. Andrew, 21. 

Buckland, Professor, 61, 83. 

Buckley, Patrick, 379. 

Buffaloes, 364, 371,394. 

Burdett-Coutts, Baroness, 255, 304, 355. 

Burke, Thomas, 16, 17. 

Burrup, Rev. Mr., and Mrs., 2S9, 291, 

293, 296, 301. 
Burton, Captain, 265, 266, 348, 353, 

363, 466. 
Bushmen, 51, 142. 
Buxton, Sir Fowell, 267. 

Cabango, 169, 184. 

Caffre War, 128, 129, 179, 233, 441. 

Caffres, 4, 82, 90, 128, 167. 

Calcraft, Mr., M.P., 231, 341. 

"Calcutta" (vessel), 451. 

" Cambrian," H. M.S., 248. 

Cambridge, 225 et seq. 

Camelopard, 83. 

Camels, 276, 371. 

Cameron, Lieutenant, R.N., 44S-450, 

466. 
Cameroons, Mount, 470. 
Candido, Senhor, 308. 
Canoes, 102, 156, 180, 279, 392, 408. 
Canterbury, Archbishop of, 353. 
Cape, The, 37-39, 41, 78, 129, 245, 248, 

283, 297, 310. 
Cape Town, 38, 103, 124, 130, 198, 247; 

Bishop of, 296 ; meeting at, 205. 
Carlisle, Earl of, 225. 
Carnivorous plants, 414. 
Casembe, 383, 3S4, 395, 396, 442. 
Cashan Mountains, or Magaliesberg, 90. 
Cassaba, 394. 
Cassange, 151, 166. 
Castor-oil, 323. 

" Catholic Presbyterian," 128. 
Cecil, Rev. Richard, 26-29, 37. 
Challis, Alderman, 102. 
Chambeze, river, 383, 434, 439, 442. 
Chanyuni, 184. 
Chapman, Captain, R.N., 326. 
Chibisa, 254, 255, 285, 287, 289, 308, 

311, 371. 
Chiboque, 159. 
Chicova, 279. 
Chigunda, 285. 



IXDEX. 



493 



Chimbwe, river, 381. 

Chimnis, Lieutenant, R.N., 197. 

Chinsamba'a in Mosapo, 319. 

"Chitane," the dog, 3S1. 

Chitimba, 3S3. 

Chitambo, 440, 447. 

Chipping Ongar, 26, '27. 

Chobe, river, 117, 1-42. 

Cholera, 399, 407. 

Chongwe, river, 273. 

Chonoane, 70 ei seq., 84, 96, -172. 

Choul Rock, near Bombay, 334. 

Chowambe, Lake, 3S9. 

Chuma, 329, 330, 371, 401, 403, 419, 

447. 
Chungu, 442. 

Church Missionary Society, 4G4, 409. 
Clarendon, Earl of, 165, 230-232, 255, 

421 ; his letter to Sekeletu, 4S7. 
Clark, Mr., of Viva, 3. 
Clematis. 4 id. 
Coanza, river, 193, 470. 
Coffee, 191. 
Colenso, Bishop, 343, 341. 

Colesberg, 70. 

Collyer, Mr., 329. 

Cumber, Bev. J. T., 470. 

Congo, or Livingstone Liver, 3S7, 390, 

408, 435, 430, 450, 470; Stanley's 

exploration of, 405. 
Cook, J. 3., 33. 
Copper, 80, 39S, 434. 
Corrientes, Cape, 247. 
Cotton, 80, 191, 219, 200, 202, 2S4, 323, 

414. 
Cotton-fields, 200, 273. 
Cranes, crowned, 277. 
Cranworth, Lord, 231. 
Crawford, .John, 300. 
Culpepper's "Herbal," 12. 
Camming, Gordon, 87, 114. 
Cunningham, .lames, 234. 
Cypriano de Abrao, 101. 

Dahomey, 318. 
M Daily Telegraph," 39S, 400. 
Dalhourie, Ear] of, 348. 
Dapuri, 335. 

Salaam, 400. 
-.,•' II.. M.S., 194. 
Dauma, 322. 

1 ftawa n, Lieut., R. X., 430, 431 , 439, 450. 
Decken, Baron van der, 303. 
Delgado, < !ape, 359. 
Denhardts, I Lit, 466. 
Derby, Bar! of, 353. 

Desiccation of Airica, Gl. 



! Dezi, 404. 
1 Diarrhoea, 248. 
Dickenson, Rev. Mr., 311. 
Dick's " Philosophy of a Future State," 

14,35. 
Dill, 440. 

Dillon, Dr., 447 ; death of, 449. 
Diseases. See Cholera, Diarrhoea, Dysen- 
tery, Erysipelas, Fever, Hemorrhage, 
Hemorrhoids, Leprosy, Ophthalmia, 
Pneumonia. 
Dolphins, 331. 
Donaldson, Captain, 37. 
Dublin, visit to, 217. 
Duff, Lev. Dr., 342. 
Dugumbe, 407, 409-411. 
Dunmore, Lord and Lad)', 330. 
Dysentery, 154, 103, 449. 

Eardley, Sir Culling, 231. 
Eastlake, Sir Charles, 353. 
" Eclectic Review," 82. 
Edinburgh Medical Mission, 470. 
Edinburgh, visit to, 224. 
Edwardes, Sir Herbert, 114. 
Egypt, 330, 352, 370. 

Khedive of, 403. 

Egyptian literature, 90. 

Elephants, 87, 101, 113, 257, 2S7, 394. 

Ellesmere, Lord, 109. 

Elton, Consul, 408. 

Elwin, Mr., 353. 

Embomma, 405. 

Ergot of rye, 83. 

Erysipelas, 441. 

"Evangelical Magazine,' 70, 82, 

Eyre, Governor, 354. 

" Examiner," 300. 

Faulkner, Henry, 379. 

Fergusson, Sir William, 451, 452. 

Fernando Po, 89, 348. 

Fever, 61, 83, 104, 125, 154, 187, 279, 
371 ; Thomas Livingstone attacked 
by, 114; Livingstone's remedy for, 
138, 229, 275, 481 ; Livingstone 
attacked by, on journey to Loanda, 
154, 158, 100; at Loanda, 103; in 
Nyassa district, 311; in Bangweolo 
district, 382 ; Kirk's experiments on 
medicine for, 271 ; Mr. and Mrs. 
H< In iore succumb to, 274; illness and 
death of members of Universities 
Mission from, 311; suicide of Dr. 
Dillon through, 449; Robert Moffat 
dies of, 449. 

Fischer, Dr., 4GG. 



494 



INDEX. 



Fish- eagle, 445. 

Fish that live on land, 414. 

Fisk University, Tennessee, 471. 

Fitch, Frederick, 212, 287, 295, 319 ; 
reminiscences by, 212. 

Fleming, George, 133, 137, 140, 141, 
150, 207. 

Rev. Mr., 343. 

"Forerunner," mail packet, 171, 195. 

Fossils, 62, 83. 

Francisco at Shupanga, 254. 

Franklin, Lady, 341, 356. 

Fraser, Rev. Mr., of Ulva, 342. 

Fredoux, Rev. Mr., of Motito, 106. 

Freeman, Rev. J. J., 37, 95. 

Frere, Sir Bartle, opinion of Livingstone, 
34, 377, 455, 456 ; opinion of Charles 
Livingstone, 89 ; receives Livingstone 
at Bombay, 355, 331, 364, 366 ; recom- 
mendation to Sultan of Zanzibar, 368 ; 
Lnfira named after him, 402 ; mission 
to Zanzibar, 411, 450, 462; obituary 
notice of Livingstone, 68, 455. 

Frere, Lady, 336, 3S1 ; Frere, Miss, 361. 

"Frolic," H.M.S., 196. 

Gabriel, Edmund, 163, 164, 167, 190, 

203. 

Galton, Francis, 103. 

Gardner, Rev. Mr., of Poona, 335. 

(attendant), 401. 

Geese, spur-winged, 277. 

Geographical Society, Royal, 89, 103, 
214, 234, 280, 348, 351, 364, 390, 413, 
448, 466, 471 ; Livingstone's com- 
munications to, 61, 102, 127, 151, 161, 
167, 168, 178, 184, 208; Oswell's 
communications, 84 ; Livingstone 
awarded twenty-five guineas, 103 ; 
awarded patron's gold medal, 201 ; 
Livingstone's discoveries called in 
question at, 280, 281 ; contribute aid 
to Zambesi Expedition, 358 ; urge 
Livingstone to explore central water- 
shed, 375 ; organise E. D. Young's 
Search Expedition, 379 ; absurd in- 
structions to Livingstone, 400 ; or- 
ganise Dawson's Search Expedition, 
430 ; reception of Stanley, 432 ; or- 
ganise Cameron's Expedition, 449, 
450 ; obituary notice of Livingstone 

• by President, 68, 455. 

Geographical Society of America, 490. 

of Italy, 490. 

of Paris, 489, 490. 

of Russia, 490. 

. of Vienna, 259, 490. 



Geology, 318, 373. 

"George," The, 37. 

Gilbert, Mrs., 28. 

Gladiolus, 440. 

Gladstone, Right Hon. W. E., 341, 367, 

450. 
Glasgow, 7, 20 et seq., 219, 377. 
Goats, 141, 160, 394. 
Goderich, "Viscount, 255. 
Golungo Alto, 166. 
Goodlake, Mrs., 346 
" Good Words," 128. 
Gordon, Colonel, R.E., 463. 
Lady Duff, "Letters from Egypt," 

361. 
"Gorgon," H.M.S., 291, 292, 296, 302, 

311. 
Graham, Dr. Thomas, 21, 23. 
Grandy, Lieutenant, R.K, 450, 451. 
Grant, Captain, 344, 398, 437, 466. 
Granville, Lord, 353. 
Greenhill, Captain, 342. 
Grey, Admiral F., 255. 

Earl, 236. 

Sir George, Governor of the Cape, 

205, 246, 267. 
Griqu aland, 121. 
Griqua Town, 43, 133, 304. 
Griquas, 44, 121, 172. 
Ground-nuts, 394. 
Guinea-fowl, 373. 
Guinness, Mrs. Grattan, " The Regions 

Beyond," 470. 
Gum-copal, 414. 
Gutzlaff, Mr., an appeal to the Churches 

on behalf of China by, 15, 18, 35. 

Hemorrhage, 264, 411, 424, 444. 

Haemorrhoids, 348, 411. 

Hamilton, 5, 9, 207, 210, 221, 341, 342, 

343, 471. 
Rev. Dr., 353, 357; death of, 

357. 
Hankey Missionary Station, 40. 
Han nan, Mr., 223. 
Hanoverian Missions, 275. 
Haug, Dr., of Poona, 336. 
Hawkins, Rev. E., 291. 
Hay, General, 196. 
Hayward, Mr., Q.C., 351, 390. 
Helmore, Rev. Mr., 274, 279, 315. 
Henderson, Dr. John, 19. 
Henn, Lieutenant, R.N., 430, 431. 
"Hermes," H.M.S., 248. 
Herodotus, 376. 
Herschel, Sir John, 168. 
Hill, Governor, of Sierra Leone, 245. 



IXDEX. 



495 



Hippopotamus, 136, 15S. 

l % David, 16, 1". 
Holcuserghum, 394. 
Holland, Sir Homy. 353. 

Honolulu, Queen Emma of, 35G. 

Hooker, Sir W., 242. 

Hottentots, 40. 41. 

Houghton, Lord, 339. 

Howe, John, 108. 

Humming-birds, 40. 

Hunter. Gavin, 6 ; David, his son, C ; 

Mrs. Neil Livingstone. 
Hyenas, 146, 3 ( J7. 

Ibo, 280. 

Ilala. 446, 461, 472. 

Indiarubber, 414. 

Indigo, 279, 323. 

Inscription on tomb of Dr. Livingstone 

in Westminster Abbey, 453. 
Inveraray, 5, 342. 
Iron, 80." 273. 
Itawa, 392. 
Ivory, 101, 120, 172, 174, 3S8, 404. 

Jkh.vv, John, 310. 

Johanna, 310, 328, 395. 

Johanna men, 310, 370, 372, 378, 384, 

395. 
Johnston, Alexander Keith, 4GG. 
Juba, river, 3o3. 

Kabompo, 1S9. 

Kalahari Desert, 47, 99, 318. 

Kalosi, 272. 

Kaniati, 1 17. 

Kamolondo, Lake, 434, 43G. 

Karagwe, river, 389, 397. 
148,449. 

Kasunga, 378. 

Katanga. 398, 409, 434. 

Kebrabaaa Rapids, 247, 251, 2GG, 2G9. 

Kennery, < 'aves of, 3G3. 

Kilwa, 392. 

King, Dr., R.N., 248. 

Kinnaird, Lord, 255. 

Kirk, John, M. I)., 421, 427 ; member of 
Zambesi Expedition, 230, 251, 256, 
. 287 et sey., 308, 311 ; 
Livingstone recommends for Govern- 
ment appointment, 348, 349 ; in Lon- 
don, 356; appointed to Zanzibar, 366 ; 
believes Musa's story, 378 ; applied 
to for stores by Livingston 
labours to stop slave-trade, 406, 407, 
III, 463; complaints of Livingstone 
to, 434 ; at Livingstone's funeral, 152. 



Kirk, Rev. Professor, of Edinburgh, 305. 

Kirsty's Rock, in Ulva, 3. 

Kolobeng, 84 et aeq., 99 et aeq., 13:;, 136, 

137, 304, 473 ; destruction of, by the 

Boers, 133-135. 
Kongone, 249, 255, 257, 205, 2G9, 277, 

2!)!. 299, 323, 320,442. 
Konokono, 277. 
Krieger, Commandant, 90. 
Kroomen, 215, 248, 257, 465. 
Kuruman, or Lattakoo, 39 et seq., 65 

etseq., 10G et seq., 133 et aeq., 172, 234, 

245, 247, 2G4, 297, 301, 39G, 471. 

Lacerda, Senhor, 192, 295, 345, 442. 
" Lady Nyassa" (steamboat), 247, 252, 

2S8 et seq., 307 et seq., 325 et aeq., 

336, 350, 351, 360, 364. 
Lakes. See Bangweolo, Chowambc, 

Kamolondo, Liemba, Lincoln, Moero, 

'Ngami, Nyassa, Shirwa, Tanganyika, 

Ulenge, Victoria Xyanza. 
" Lancet," 82, 452, 457. 
Lansdowne, Marquis of, 342. 
"Last Journals of Livingstone," 9, 327, 

402, 403, 409, 414, 435, 440, 447, 

453. 
Lavradio, Count de, 231. 
Lawrence, Lord Mayor, 339. 
Laws, Dr., 470. 
Layard, Sir Austen, 309, 339, 3.V2, 

357. 
Lechulatebe, 99-101, 105. 
Leeba, river, 151, 156, 189. 
Leeches, 381. 
Leifchild, Dr., 26. 
Leith, Captain, 335. 
Lenz, Dr., 466. 
Leprosy, 275. 
Lerimo, 27(5. 
Liambai or Leeambye, 144, 197, 402. 

See Zambesi. 
Liemba, Lake, 3S2, 383. 
Limaiie, 12G, 134. 
Lincoln, Lake, 402, 426, 434, 450. 
Link, Dr., 363. 
Lions, 47, 55, 93, 10S, 137, 138, 148, 

207 ; Livingstone's encounter with, at 

Mabotsa, 07 et aeq. 
Linvanti, 113, 137 et eeq., 153, 170, 

17G, 177, 179, 184, 187, 201, 234, 

251,274, 281. 
Livingstone, David, family of, 1-17; 

family name, 1, 2; his father, 5 ; his 
mother, ; enters cotton-spinning 

factory, li; student life in Glasgow, 

19-23 ; application to London Mis- 



496 



INDEX. 



Livingstone, David — continued. 

sionary Society, 24, 25 ; illness of, 
35, 36 ; passes licentiate of College of 
Physicians and Surgeons, Glasgow, 
36 ; ordained missionary, 37. 

Embarks for Africa, 37 ; arrival at 
Cape, 38, 39 ; at Hankey, 40 ; arrival 
at Kuruman, 41 ; proceeds north to 
Bechuana, 42, 43 ; second tour to 
Bechuana, 45; with the Bakwains, 45 ; 
third tour to the interior, 52 ; returns 
to Kuruman, 56 ; views as to distri- 
bution of missionaries, 57 ; visits Bak- 
hatla, accompanied by Steele and 
Pringle, 59 ; encounter with a lion, 
67-69; marriage, 70-72; at Mabotsa, 
71-76; at Chonuane, 76-84; work 
among the Bakwains and Bakhatla, 
78-81 ; scientific and miscellaneous 
employments, 82 ; removes to Kolo- 
beng, 84 ; assists Gordon dimming, 
87 ; travels north, accompanied by 
Murray and Oswell, 98 ; his philological 
studies, 96 ; his children, 97 ; disco- 
very of Lake 'Ngami, 101 ; awarded 
twenty-five guineas by Geographical 
Society, 103 ; birth and death of his 
daughter Elizabeth, 106 ; claims de- 
scent from the Puritans, 108 ; grati- 
tude to Oswell, 109 ; dreadful suffer- 
ings from thirst, 109 ; visits Sebituane, 
110, 111; birth of his son William 
Oswell, 114; returns to the Cape, 
127 ; literary work, 127; wife and 
children sail for England, 130 ; at the 
Cape, 129-133; instructed by Maclear 
in taking observations, 132 ; arranges 
to direct trading operations, 133 ; re- 
turns to Kolobeng, which is destroyed 
by the Boers, 133 ; resolves to open up 
Africa or perish, 136 ; reaches Lin- 
yanti, 137 ; his remedy for African 
fever, 138 ; views on missionary work, 
146 et seq., 475 et seq. ; loses his jour- 
nal, 151. 

Journey from Linyanti to Loanda 
and Quilimane, 153-198 ; attacked by 
fever and dysentery, 154 ; his feeling 
of loneliness, 159 ; kindly received by 
Portuguese, 162 ; arrives at Loanda, 
163; kindness of Gabriel, 163 ; leaves 
Loanda for East Coast, 166 ; eulogised 
by Sir John Herschel in the Geogra- 
phical Society, 168 ; awarded gold 
medal of Geographical Society, 169 ; 
favourably impressed by Jesuit Mis- 
sions, 172 ; witnesses painful scenes 



Livingstone, David -continued. 

of slave-trading, 172 ; struck down 
by rheumatic fever, 173; reaches Ba- 
rotse Country, 174 ; discovery of Vic- 
toria Falls, 179 ; danger from hostile 
tribes, 180; reaches Tette, 190; re- 
ceives great kindness from Portuguese 
governor, 191 ; writes to King of Por- 
tugal, 191; reaches Quilimane, 194; 
views on missionary enterprise, 195 ; 
leaves for England, 196 ; great danger 
in the Bay of Tunis, 196; arrives in 
England, 197. 

First visit home, 198-240 ; poetical 
welcome of his wife, 199 ; welcomed 
at Geographical Society, 201 ; at 
London Missionary Society, 204; at 
Mansion House. 204 ; visits Hamil- 
ton, 207 ; interview with Prince 
Consort, 213; honours paid to him, 
213; publishes " Missionary Travels,'' 
213 ; his generous use of the profits 
of book, 215 ; letter to a Carlisle lady 
justifying his conduct, 216 ; visits 
Dublin, 217 ; Manchester, 218 ; and 
Glasgow, 219 ; honours to Living- 
stone at Glasgow, 219; visits Hamil- 
ton and Blantyre, 221 ; sympathy 
with operatives, 223 ; views on social 
problems, 223 ; visits Edinburgh, 224 ; 
created D.C.L. Oxon., LL.D. Glasgow, 
F.R.S., 225; visits Oxford, 225; 
visits Cambridge, 225 ; delivers course 
of lectures at Cambridge, 227 ; severs 
his connection with London Missionary 
Society, 228 ; appointed Consul for 
eastern coast of Africa, 230 ; Zambesi 
expedition organised, 230 ; endeavour 
to obtain assistance of Portuguese, 23 1 ; 
effect of his visit on the public, 233 ; 
interview with the Queen, 235 ; public 
banquet in Freemasons' Tavern, 236 ; 
his tribute to Mrs. Livingstone, 237 ; 
letter from Professor Sedgwick, 238. 

Exploration of Zambesi, Rovuma, 
Nyassa, and Shire\ 241-324 ; sails 
from Liverpool, 241 ; instructions 
to members of Expedition, 241 ; 
reception at Cape Town, 246 , 
arrives at Kongone, 247 ; proceeds 
up the Zambesi, 250 ; collision with 
naval officer, 250 ; undertakes his 
duties, 250 ; applies for a new 
steamer, 252 ; explores the Shire, 
253 ; discovers Lake Shirwa, 255 ; 
discovers Lake Nyassa, 258 ; elected 
member of Geographical Society of 



1XDEX. 



497 



Livingstone, David — continued. 

Vienna, 259 ; liis schene for a colony 
in Nyaasa district, 261 ; goes home 
with the Makololo. 265 et seq. : disap- 
pointed with the ' Ma-Robert' steamer, 
265 ; letter to secretary of Universi- 
ties Mission. 266 ; breaks with the 
Portuguese authorities, 272 : readies 
Victoria Falls. 275 : returns to Tette, 
277 ; discoveries questioned by Mac- 
queen in Geographical Society, 280 ; 
•Pioneer 1 steamer received, 282; 
welcomes Bishop Mackenzie and Uni- 
versities Mission. 283 ; rescues slaves 
at Mbane. 285 ; explores Lake Xyassa 
With a four-oared boat, 287 ; joined 
by Mrs. Livingstone at Luabo, 291 ; 
death of Bishop Mackenzie, 294; blame 
of Mackenzie's difficulties thrown npon 
him, 295 : birth of daughter (Anna 
Mary), 297 ; death of his wife, 298 ; 
'Lady Nyassa' arrives too late to be 
of use, 307 ; explores Rovuma, 307; 
paper war with Portuguese, 308 ; his 
impressions of slave-trade desolation, 
310 ; receives recall of Expedition, 
312 ; great discouragements of Living- 
stone, 315; writes to Bishop Tozer 
imploring him not to abandon Uni- 
versities Mission, 320 ; sends rescued 
slaves to the Cape, 322 ; imminent 
peril in a circular storm, 320 ; his 
voyage from Zanzibar to Bombay in 
* Lady Nyassa,' 32S ; welcomed by Sir 
Bartle Ifrere at Bombay, 335. 

:id visit home, 338-3.17 ; ar- 
rives in London, o.'JS ; interviews 
with Lord Palmeraton, 33s ; death 
of his son Robert, 340; visits Young 
x lly, 341 ; visits the Duke of 
I, 342 ; lectures at British Asso- 
ciation, Bath, 343; his opinion of 
Colenso, '!44 ; at funeral of Captain 
Speke, .*U 1 ; visits Webb of Newstead 
Abbey, 340 ; writ's " The Zambesi 
and its Tributaries," 347 ; urged by 
Murchison to undertake exploration of 

Centra] African watershed and Nile 

::' : views of his missionary 
duty, .'>.")() ; ungracious prop sal of 

152 ; speaks at Loyal 

Academy dinner, 353 ; visits Hamil- 
ton, .'!")•"». 

Lition to Africa. 358- 1»'>1 ; 

leaves England on last expedition, 

t of last expedition, 358 ; 

reaches Bombay, 361 ; lectures there, 

2 



Livtn'cston'k, David — continued. 

304 : sells the ' Lady Nyassa,' 304 ; 
leaves Bombay for Zanzibar, 366 ; 
visits the Sultan of Zanzibar, 30S ; 
receives firman from Sultan, 370; 
personnel of expedition, 370 ; wit- 
nesses horrors of slave-trade, 372 ; 
theory of Nile watershed, 370 ; thinks 
that Herodotus's account may be 
true, 370 ; object of his expedition 
defined by Sir Bartle Frere in Glas- 
gow, 377 ; deserted by Johanna men, 
37S ; deserters' lying tale of his death, 
378; Search Expedition, 370 et seq.j 
loses his medicine-chest, 382 ; reaches 
Lake Tanganyika, 3S2 ; discovers 
Lake Moero, 382 ; discovers Lake 
Bangweolo, 380 ; his sponge theory of 
sources of Nile, Zambesi, and Congo, 
386; illness on May to I'jiji, 387; 
reaches Ujiji, 3S8 ; plundered by 
Arabs, 388 ; starts to explore Man- 
yuema country, 31) I ; arrives at 15am- 
barre, 392 ; letter to his son Thomas, 
describing the country and his projects 
of exploration, 394 ; his tribute to 
Miss Thine, 398 ; starts to explore 
Lualaba, 401 ; driven back by sore 
feet, 401 ; reads the whole Bible 
through four times, 403 ; disappointed 
with Banians' slaves sent to him from 
Zanzibar, 407 ; mutiny among his 
men, 408 ; his estimate of loss owing 
to inefficiency of followers, 408 ; dis- 
appointment at finding Lualaba runs 
W.S.W., 408 ; reaches Nyangwe, 
408 ; his description of massacre of 
Bagenya, 4<>9 ; sufferings from haemor- 
rhoids, 41 1 ; three times saved from 
death in one day, 412 ; prostrated by 
illness, 412; readies L'iji, 412; Pro- 
fessor Owen's tribute to his scientific 
services, 414; relieved by Stanley, 
4 13; description of meeting, 41 9; Stan- 
law's impression of him, 422 ; explores 
myika with Stanley, 424 ; Stanley 
put-, from him, 427 ; detention at 
Unyanyembe, 433; plan of aew jour- 
neys, L'i4 ; complaints to Kirk, 435; 
opinion of Stanley's behaviour, 43.1; 

fears that the Lualaba may turn out 

to be the Congo, 435 ; his caution in 
forming judgments, 436 ; dial n 
hearing of death of Murchison, 137; 
views on mission work. L38 
lence of escort sent by Stanley, 439 ; 
travels to Tanganyika and iJangweolo, 



498 



INDEX. 



Livingstone, David — continued. 

439 ; his sufferings through floods, 

440 ; his last letter to Maclear and 
Mann, 441 ; sufferings of his party 
from erysipelas, 441 ; last efforts to 
rouse public feeling against the slave- 
trade, 443 ; looks upon exploration as 
only a means, to the end of fighting 
the slave-trade, 443 ; illness increases, 
444 ; last entry in journal, 445 ; death 
in Chitambo's village, 446 ; remains 
conveyed by his followers to Zanzibar, 
446 ; conveyed to Southampton and 
to London, 451 ; identified by Sir 
Wm. Ferguson and Dr. Loudon, 452 ; 
funeral in Westminster Abbey, 453. 

Livingstone, Mrs. (wife), 70, 79, 104 et 
seq., 117, 203, 204, 237, 245, 266, 289, 
292, 315, 374, 452, 454; marriage, 
72 ; sails for England, 130 ; poetical 
welcome to her husband, 199 ; sails for 
Africa, 240, 241 ; joins Livingstone on 
Zambesi, 291; letters to, 131, 166, 
172, 177, 196 ; death of, 297-299. 

Eobert (son),79, 148, 302, 339, 385 ; 

letters to, 244, 286 ; death of, 340,348. 

Thomas (son), 275, 292, 451 ; letters 

to, 148, 240, 373, 394 ; death of, 451. 

William Osvvell (son), 114, 148, 

240, 241, 244, 245, 341, 355, 430, 431, 
437, 447. 

Agnes (daughter), 191, 341, 343, 

346, 348, 352. 359, 457, 458 ; letters 
to, 132, 138, 255, 303, 326, 361, 367, 
370, 399, 405, 434, 444. 

Anna Mary (daughter), 297, 341, 

356, 365. 

Elizabeth (daughter), 106, 137. 

Neil (father), 5, 17, 36, 54, 94, 124, 

148 ; death of, 197. 
- Mrs. Neil (mother), 8, 9, 10, 36, 74, 

207, 263, 341 ; death of, 355. 
Charles (brother), 18, 88, 89, 113, 

124, 230, 252, 256, 266 et seq., 311, 

347, 318 ; death of, 89. 

John (brother), 255, 400, 444. 

Charles (uncle), 5. 

David (nephew), 194. 

Livingstone Central African Company, 
465, 469. 

Livingstone Inland Mission, 470. 

Livingstone River. See Congo. 

Livingstonia; 224, 312, 321, 468, 471. 

Loanda, St. Paul de, 145, 150, 153 et 
seq., 178 et seq., 201 et seq., 234, 236, 
281, 450; Livingstone arrives at, 163. 

Loangwa, river, 156, 180. 



Loangwa of Nyassa, river, 318. 
Lobale, 156. 
Logan, William, 355. 
Lomame (Young's River), 409. 
Londa, 156, 173. 
London, Bishop of, 206, 353. 
London City Mission, 310. 
London Missionary Society, 24, 25, 36, 
42, 88, 89, 102, 128, 151, 164, 195, 

204, 208, 216, 218, 228, 234, 247, 274, 
469; Livingstone joins, 37; severs his 
connection with, 228. 

Lonta, river, 205. 

Loudon, Dr., 356, 451. 

Lovedale, 321. 

Luabo, 291, 326, 442. 

Lualaba (Webb's River), 383, 387, 392, 

et seq., 434, 435. 
Luamo, river, 393. 
Luanda, 383, 389. 
Luapula, river, 383, 442, 446. 
Ludha Damji, 427. 
Lufira, river, 402. 
Lunda, 395, 422. 
Lupata, 277. 
Lusize, river, 424. 
Lyell, Sir Charles, 344. 

Mabotsa, 65, 69, 71, 85, S6, 96, 296, 
472 ; life at, 74 et seq. 

Macfie, R. A., 234. 

Macgregor, Sir Duncan, 218. 

Mackay, Mr., of Church Missionary So- 
ciety, 464. 

Mackenzie, Bishop, 247, 282 et seq., 307, 
320, 321, 322, 374, 382 ; death of, 293. 

Miss, 289, 291, 293, 296, 301. 

Maclear, Cape, 287. 

Maclear, Sir Thomas, 132, 205, 206, 246, 
249, 255, 261, 283, 320, 346; opinion 
of Livingstone as an observer, 168, 

205, 456; letters to, 173, 180, 209, 
213, 225, 296, 309, 335, 384, 397, 404, 
426, 441. 

M'Leay, the Celtic name of the Living- 
stones, 1. 
Maclure, Captain, R.N., 183, 194. 
Macquaries family, 1. 
Macqueen, Mr., 280. 
M 'Robert, Mrs., 56, 68. 
M'William, Dr., 249. 
Mafite, 178. 

Magomero, 285, 286, 293, 311, 373. 
Mahometanism, 317. 
Mahura, 52. . 

Maine, Sir H. Sumner, 361. 
Maize, 260, 323, 380, 394, 396. 



INDEX. 



499 



Makalaka, 4S. 

Makhatla, 71. 

Maklisoora, 37S. 

Makololo, lio. 1:57, 145, 'JOT, 234, 248, 
•J.")!, 315, 319, 321, 351 ; begin to 
practise slave-trade, 118; change in 
chiefehip; guides for Livingstone, 150; 
accompany Livingstone to Loanda, 
153 <t 8eq. ; accompany Livingstone 
to Qnilimane, HOet ■-■"/. : Livingstone 
returns to Barotse with, 247, 266 et 
Livingstone's opiuion of, 407, 
441. 

Makonde, .372. 472. 

Malachite, 308. 

Malatzi, 132, 107. 

Malmesbnry, Lord, 250. 

Malopo, river, 137. 

"Malwa," P. and 0. steamer, 451. 

Mambwe, 3S3. 

Ma-mochisane, 113, 140, 144. 

Manchester, visit to, 218. 

Manganja, 253, 28.3, 280, 293, 294, 29G, 
317, 396. 

Manioc-roots. LS7. 

Mann, Mr., 384, 304, 397, 404, 441. 

Manners, Lord .John, 353. 

Manwa Sera, 430. 

Manvnema, 07, 216, 340, 3S9, 391, et seq. 
419, 435. 402. 

Mapira, 448. 

Maples, Lev. Chauncy, 472. 

Mapunda, 379. 

Marenga, 378, 379. 

Marianno, a slave agent, 310. 

Marigolds, 440. 

"Ma-Robert," steam-launch, 241, et seq., 
205. it aeq. 
kaaa, 274. 

Masasi, 400. 

Mataka. 373, 375, 472. 

Matebele, 54, 112. 151, 234. 

Matiainv... 151, 173. 

Maunkti, 111. 

Mauritius. 100. 

Mazitu, 319, 37S, 395. 

Mbame, 285. 

Rev. Dr., 470. 

Mebalwe, 56, 61, 68, 72, 80, 81, 92, 104, 
120, 134. 107, 172. 

Medical missions, 1 o, 470. 

Menelek, king of Shoa, 405. 

Meriye, 132, I is. 
City, :::ts. 

Methonica gloriosa, 440. 

Mikindany, .371. 

Mimosa, 40. 



Miramho, 419. 

Miranda, Lieutenant, 193. 

Missions. See American Foreign, Bap- 
tist Missionary Society, Blantyre on 
Shire, Church Missionary Society, 
Hanoverian, Jesuit, Livingstone In- 
land, Livingstonia, London City, Lon- 
don [Missionary Society, Medical, 
Motito (French), Societe des Missions 
ESvangeliques, South Sea., Universities. 

"Missionary Travels," 15, 68, 89, 100, 
109, 110, 137, 151, 150, 194, 196, 209, 
213. 

Mitchell, Rev. J., of Poona, 335. 

Mkouta, 470. 

Moenekuss, 392, 393, 394. 

Moero, Lake, 316, 382, 383, 387, 389, 

396, 430, 442, 467 ; discovery of, 38-'. 
Moffat, Lev. Dr., 34, 39, 41, 61, 70, 75, 

93, 107, 124, 126, 128, 129, 138, 158, 
176, 177, 194, 240, 271, 283, 298, 389, 
452 ; letters to, 94, 118, 132, 152, 248, 
275 ; recollections by, 34, 35. 

Mrs., 115, 127, 301 ; letters from, 

176,200; letters to, 177,302, 301,305. 

Janet, wife of David Hunter, 7. 

John, 234, 275, 330. 

Mary. See Mrs. D. Livingstone. 

Robert, son of Dr. Moffat, 152. 

Robert, grandson of Dr. Moffat, 35, 

449 ; death of, 302. 

Mohamad bin Saleh, 413. 

Mohamad Bogharib, 384, 385, 387, 3SS. 

397, 407, 408. 

Moir, Rev. John, 19, 31. 

Mokhatla, 79, 92. 

Molemba, 383. 

Molilamo, river (or Lulimala), 445. 

Mombasa, 430. 

Monk, Rev. William, 225, 228, 46S. 

Monteiro, Colonel, 169. 

Monteith, Henry, 5. 

Moore, Rev. Joseph, 25, 36, 136 ; letters 
to, 135, 278, 283, 321, 340; recollec- 
tions of Livingstone by, 20 et seq. 

Mornnibala. 320. 

Mosapo, 31 9. 

Mosilikatee, 43, 48, 54, 79, 82, 114, 176, 
234, 240, 271, 275. 

Mosquitoes, 05, 104, 110, 154, 323. 

Motito, 52, 70, 106. 

Motlube, 151. 

Moyimang, 7 1. 

Mozambique, 280, 281,291,292, 302, 308, 
325-327; Governor of, 193,308. 

Mpbala Island. 442. 

Mpende, L82, 270, 



5°° 



INDEX. 



Mpepe, 140, 144. 

Mtesa, chief of Waganda, 464, 469. 

Murchison, Sir Eoderick, 169, 184, 235, 
242, 255, 261, 338, 342, 348, 350,353, 
354, 358 ; attachment of Livingstone 
to, 5 ; opinion of Livingstone's work, 
201, 203, 205, 214, 236 ; urges Living- 
stone to write a book, 208 ; views on 
African geology, 318 ; urges Living- 
stone to explore the Nile sources, 349, 
375, 395 ; organises Search Expedi- 
tion, 379 ; letters from, 185, 239, 288, 
349 ; letters to, 192, 224, 268, 280, 
304, 307, 310 ; death of, 437, 451. 

Murchison, Lady, 304, 338 ; death of, 
406. 

Cataracts, 253, 260, 264, 2S7, 312, 

313, 315, 379, 465, 471. 

Murphy, Lieut., R.N., 405, 447, 448. 

Murray, John (Livingstone's fellow-tra- 
veller), 99, 102, 158, 280. 

John (publisher), 208, 215, 339,357, 

367. 

Musa, one of the Johanna men, 370, 378, 
379, 406. 

Musa bin Salim, 388. 

Musurus Pasha, 343. 

Mutake, 374. 

Mvula-tree, 447, 461. 

Myonga-tree, 447. 

Naliele, 281. 

Nasonsa, 441. 

Nassick boys, 361, 366, 370, 372. 

Natal, 340. 

Ndonde, 361. 

Negroes, 158, 173, 354. 

New, Rev. Charles, 430, 431. 

Newstead Abbey, 346 et seq., 412. 

Newton, Dr., of Philadelphia, 255. 

" New -York Herald," 67, 413, 417, 428, 
435, 466. 

'Ngami, Lake, 40, 49, 62, 98, 100, 101, 
105,106, 120, 126, 184,275, 289, 399, 
467 ; discovery of, 101. 

Niger Expedition, 29, 275. 

Nightingale, Florence, letter from, 458. 

Nile River, exploration of sources under- 
taken at request of Geographical So- 
ciety, 337, 349, 395 ; hardships of the 
search, 394 ; Livingstone's impression 
that sources were higher than Nyanza, 
376 ; Livingstone's theory of sources 
in Bangweolo watershed, 387, 397, 
401, 414 ; theory of inundation, 416 ; 
sponge theory of sources, 387 ; account 
of sources given to Herodotus, 377 ; 



Ptolemy's description of source, 396 ; 
Miss Tinne's explorations of, 398 ; 
natives sceptical of object of Living- 
stone's exploration, 426; Livingstone's 
doubts of his own theory, 408, 435 ; 
theory finally disproved, 414, 467. 

Nindi, 395. 

Nunes, Jose, Colonel, 258. 

Nyangwe, 408, 426, 438. 

Nyanza, Victoria, 376, 398, 450, 464. 

Nyassa, Lake, 22, 247, 260, 303, 327; 
discovery of, 258 ; Livingstone's plan 
for a steamer on, 268, 315 ; different 
routes to, 272, 280 ; travels iu Nyassa 
district, 283 et seq., 306 et seq. ; slave- 
trade in district, 288 et seq.; Living- 
stone's schemes for exploration, 350 ; 
reaches the lake, 373 ; Search Expe- 
dition in Nyassa district, 399; nomen- 
clature of the lake, 442 ; missionary 
and commercial projects in Nyassa 
district, 465 et seq. 

Oldfield, Captain, R.N., 279, 327, 349, 
359. 

Ophthalmia, 51. 

Orange River, 39, 62. 

Orchids, 440. 

" Orestes," H.M.S., 325-327. 

Ornament, lip, 259. 

Ornithology. See Bee-eaters, Cranes, 
Fish-eagle, Geese, Guinea-fowl, Hum- 
ming-birds, Ostrich, Parrot, Sparrows, 
Sun-birds, Turtle-doves, Wagtail, Why- 
dahs. 

Orphanage, St. George's, Cape Town, 322. 

Ostrich, 51, 120, 277. 

Oswell, William C, 127, 255, 280 ; his 
description of Kolobeng, 84 ; accom- 
panies Livingstone to 'Ngami, Liny anti, 
and Sesheke, 99 et seq.; meets Living- 
stone at Geographical Society, 201 ; 
Livingstone's opinion of, 355 ; Living- 
stone bids farewell to, 357 ; at 
Livingstone's funeral, 452. 

Mrs., 357. 

Otis, Mr., 470. 

Owen, Commodore, 275, 299. 

Owen, Professor, 32, 40, 51, 83, 203, 205, 
210, 237, 242, 255, 394, 414 et seq. 

Ox, 154, 160, 161. 

Oxford, 225 et seq., 355. 

Oysters, 410. 

Palmerston, Lord, 230, 231, 245, 255, 

270, 338, 341, 351, 390. 
Palms, 393, 394 ; palm-oil, 394, 414. 



INDEX. 



5 01 



Pangola, "270. 

Papyrus, 414. 

Parrot, 394, 

Parsnips, 4 10. 

Paul, a native convert, 79, 92, 134. 

Peaches, 396. 

'•Pearl, - ' H.M.S.. 241, 248, 249. 

Peas, 440. 

juin," H.M.s., 368,37a 
Pennell, John, 329, 833. 
Philip, Rev. Dr., 38, 263. 
Phillip, John, R.A., 45(5. 
Pilanii - 
" Pioneer " (steam launch), 252, 2S2 ct 

. 316, ::2o-327. 
Plantains, 394. 

Playt'air. Right Hon. Lyon, 21. 
Pneumonia, 399, 424. 

. Dr., 400. 

nth, Lord, 457. 
_ ilas. 410. 
Poniare, 44. 

Pomgranate flowers, 437. 
Poona, 335, 361 ; mission schools at, 

335. 
Port-Elizabeth, 40. 

Portugal, H.M. the King of, 191, 231, 
232, 322. 

Portuguese, 255, 279, 307, 337, 350, 
: intrigue for establishing slave- 
trade with Makololo, 143 ; kindness 
to Livingstone, 102, 100, I!);!, 202, 
203, 272 ; enlightened views of, 103 ; 
-trade, 172. 271, 272, 284, 308, 
309, 313 et 8eq., 405 ; discoveries and 
travels, 102, 193, 280, 308, 442; mis- 
sions, 102 ; fail to help Makololo, 
208, 251 ; evils of colonisation, '1~'.\ ; 
Livingstone thwarted by, 200, 283, 
:;i :: ; complaints of Livingstone by, 295, 
345 ; remonstrated with by English 
nment, 309 ; treaty with, 351. 
Potal 394 

iter, Hendriek, 90, 92. 
I'<>\\ 1 1, < !aptain, 107. 
Pr.-toii.i-. 91, I ■'>'■>■ 
36 1. 

Prideaux, ( aptain, 4 10. 

Prime Consort, ill;. II. the, 29, 213, 

231, .M 1. 
Pringle, Mr., of Tinnevelly, 59. 
Ptolemy, 396, 398, 136. 
Pumpkins, 396. 
" Punch,' 1 83 ; Livingstone's enjoyment 

1 elegy from, 454. 
Pungo-Andongo, 171. 1^1. 
. Dr., 294. 



Qo woo, river, 101. 

"Quarterly Review," 414. 

Queen, Her Majesty the, 103, 120, 179, 

227. 235, 303, 432. 
Quilimane, 170, 177, 184, 103, 104, 105, 

100, 202, 207, 230, 234, 251, 255, 309, 

465. 

RADSTOCK, Lord, 2 IS. 

Rae, George, 230, 200, 209, 311, 32S. 

Ravensworth, Lord, 333. 

Kawlinson, Sir Henry, 448, 450, 451. 

Reddiffe, Lady, 330. 

laid. John, 336, 379. 

Rhinoceros, 44, 51, 83, 92, 93, 271. 

Rigby, Colonel, 288. 

Rio da Senna, 102. 

Rio de Janeiro, 37. 

Rivers. See Chambeze, Chimbwe, Chobe, 
Chongwe, Coanza, Congo, Leeba, 
Loangwa,Loangwa of Nyassa, Lomame, 
Lonta, Lualaba, Luamo, Luapula, Lu- 
fira, Lusize, Molilamo, Niger, Nile, 
Orange River, Quango, Rovuma, Ruo, 
Shire, Tamanak'le, Teoge, Zambesi, 
Zouga. 

Robertson, Dr., of Swellendam, 92. 

Roga, Jose da, Captain, 192. 

Romilly, Sir J., 353. 

Roscher, Dr., 259. 

Ross, Rev. William, 37. 

Rossie Priory, 224. 

Rovuma, river, 247, 272, 279, 283 et 
seq., 307, 337, 349, 351, 358, 370 et 
seq., 400, 472. 

Rowley, Rev. Henry, 294-290, 345. 

Royal Academy, 352. 

Royal Society, 225. 

Rua, 383, 385, 380, 425. 

Ruo, river, 280, 202, 293. 

Russell, Earl, 200, 209, 308, 309, 312, 
:;14, 339,353. 

Rutherfoord, Mr., 133, 137, 205-207, 213. 

Rutnagerry, 333. 

SALSETTl Island. 303. 
"Saturday Review," 300, 309. 

Sell i it, Lieutenant von, 363. 

Scudamore, Lev. Mr., 284, 311, 321. 
Search Expedition, 370, 300, 431. 
Sebehwe, 48, 40, 51, 52. 

Sebituane, 98 et §eq., 132, 13G, 137, 139, 

140, 101; death of, 111. 
Sebubi, 134. 

Sechele (chief of the Bakwains), 53, 54, 

7 1. 76 ^«>, 85 el seq. t 98, 99, 104, 120, 
134, i::o, 195, 275 ; baptism of, 92. 



5°2 



INDEX. 



Sedgwick, Professor, 226, 314; letter 
from, 23S, 239. 

Sehamy, death of, 63. 

Seipone, 132, 14S. 

Sekeletu, 140, 141, 143-145, 151, 153, 
156, 166-168, 178, 180, 203, 232, 247, 
268, 273-275; death of, 276. 

Sekomi, 47, 99, 100, 117. 

Sekwebu, suicide of, 196. 

Semelle, Lieutenant de, 467. 

Senna, 193, 278, 442. 

Sepoys, 367, 370, 372, 373, 378, 384. 

Serpents, Sea, 333, 335. 

Sesheke, 113, 117, 144, 274, 277. 

Setefano, baptism of, 92. 

Seward, Dr., of Zanzibar, 378. 

Shaftesbury, Lord, 204, 230, 262, 339, 
341 ; Lady Shaftesbury, 339, 341. 

Sharks, 330, 367. 

Shaw (Mr. Stanley's English attendant), 
death of, 427. 

Sheep, 394. 

Shelley, Mrs. Bysshe, 118. 

Shereef, 408, 412. 

Sherman, Rev. Mr., 26. 

Shidina country, 252. 

Shire, river, 247 et seq., 268 et seq., 283 
et seq., 307, 313, 321, 326, 351, 374, 
375, 399, 416, 465, 468. 

Shirwa, Lake, 255, 256, 259, 467 ; dis- 
covery of, 255. 

Shoa, 465. 
• Shobo, Bushman guide, 109, 110, 117. 

Shupanga, 247, 249, 293, 297 ; death of 
Mrs. Livingstone at, 299, 300, 452. 

Sicard, Major, 190, 251, 312, 313. 

Sichuana language, 54, 72, 96, 123, 158, 
173, 248. 

Sierra Leone, 244, 247. 

Silva Porto (a Portuguese trader), 280, 
281. 

Sime, Mrs.,, 28. 

Simon's Bay, 247, 248. 

Sinamanero, 279. 

Skead, Mr., 248. 

Slaves, Slavery, Slave-trade — Makololo 
begin to practise slavery, 118 ; slave- 
producing region, 121 ; efforts to stop 
slave-trade in Central Africa, 122, 125, 
203, 278, 314; slave-trade of Boers, 
135 ; intrigues of Portuguese for estab- 
lishing slave-trade, 143 ; slavery in 
Makololo country, 146 et seq. ; slaves 
in chains, 146, 159 ; dislike of slave- 
trade by some Portuguese, 163 ; slavery 
in Portuguese settlements, 1 72 et seq., 
191 ; Livingstone mistaken for slave- 



trader, 188, 317, 471 ; exposure of 
slave-trade by Livingstone, 233, 323, 
337, 347, 350, 443 ; slave-trade in 
Shire district, 256 et seq. ; effect of 
slave-trade in Zambesi Valley, 267, 
273, 311 ; Livingstone known as the 
white man " who did not make slaves," 

270, 408 ; Portuguese slave-trading, 

271, 281, 2S4, 308, 310, 322, 324, 
337 ; attack of Ajawa slave-traders, 

286 ; slave-trade in Nyassa district, 

287 et seq. ; release of slaves by Living- 
stone, 295, 296 ; remonstrances of 
English to Portuguese Government, 
309 ; rescued slaves sent to the Cape, 
321, 326 ; slaves in Mozambique. 327 ; 
slave-trade in Persian Gulf, 336 ; Lord 
Palmerston's efforts for abolition of 
slave-trade, 338, 402 ; Africans unde- 
nted by slave-trade, 354, 395 ; Zanzi- 
bar slave-market, 369 ; horrors of 
Arab slave-trade in Nyassa district, 
372 et seq. ; slave-trade in Bangweolo 
and Ujiji districts, 385, 387 et seq., 
391 et seq. ; Livingstone's views on 
American slavery, 394, 395 ; tribute 
to Mrs. Stowe, 399 ; gratitude of 
Livingstone to enemies of slavery, 402 ; 
despair of Livingstone, 403 ; free Afri- 
cans compared with slaves, 406 ; Ba- 
nians' slaves sent to Livingstone from 
Zanzibar, 407, 411 ; mission of Sir 
Bartle Erere to abolish slave-trade, 
411 ; treaty with Sultan of Zanzibar, 
463 ; efforts of Colonel Gordon to 
abolish, 463 ; abolition of slave-trade 
by King Mtesa, 464. 

Smith, Dr., 470. 

Dr. Andrew, 103, 255. 

John Russell, 96. 

Rev. John, 176. 

Sir Harry, 134. 

Smith's "Dictionary of the Bible," 383. 

Smyth, Rear- Admiral W., R.N., 102. 

" Societe des Missions Evangeliques," 469. 

Soko, 392, 394, 397, 401, 405. 

Solomon, Saul, 213. 

Somerset, Duke and Duchess of, 353. 

Soudan, 463, 465. 

South Sea missions, 175. 

Sparrows, 95. 

Speke, Captain, 266, 344, 398, 437, 466. 

Spider, 414. 

Spiderworts, 440. 

Spring-bucks, 106. 

St. Cruz (a trader), 254. 

Stanford Rivers, 28, 29. 



IXDEX. 



5°3 



Stanley, Henry Moreland — journey to 
rjiji. 413, 417 et seq. .• meeting with 
Livingstone, 420 ; travels with Living- 
stone, 417 c >•'[■ : parts from Living- 
stone, 427, 428; efforts f 01 Livingstone, 
429 et ttq. ; reception in England, 
431 etaeq. : impressions of Livingstone, 
422 et &eq. : Livingstone's regard for, 
42!). 43."> ; exploration of Livingstone 
River, 465. 

Stanley's "How 1 found Livingstone," 
432. 

Steele, General Sir T. M., 59, 114, 118, 
It;:.. 186, 201, 202, 255, 341; com- 
municates Livingstone's letters to 
ographical Society, 102, 127. 

Bteere, Bishop, 374, 469. 

Stephen. Sir .lames, 324. 
1 son, James. 465. 
lit, Colonel, 335. 

Rev. Dr.. of Lovedale, 234, 289, 

291, 292, 298, 305, 315, 321, 362, 
452 ; founds Livingstonia, 4GS. 

Tames, C.E., 46S. 

Mrs.. 399. 
Sturge, Joseph, 267. 
Sugar, 191, 260, 280, 323; sugar-cane, 

3!)4 ; sugar-mill, 207- 
Sun -birds, 437. 
'• Sunday Magazine," 292. 
Susi, a Shupanga man, 370. 401, 403, 

419, 44.1 et seq. 
Sutherland, Duchess-Dowager of, 356. 

bin Habib, 407. 
Byedbin Majib, 413, 425. 
Syme, Professor, 341. 

Tabu Lav, 247. 

moio, 410. 
Tahiti. 162. 

Tamanak'le river, 100, 102, 104, 122. 
Tanganyika, Lake, 349, 359, 380 H eeq., 

409, 418, 434,438, 441, 466, 467. 
Tattazn'a Coptic Grammar, etc., 96. 
Taylor, Isaac, 27, 28, 127. 

L collections by, 2S. 

Lev. Joseph v. S., 27. 

. 278. 

L84, 190, 192, I93,207,247e*«eg., 
267 et seq., 308 et eeq. f 442. 
. river, 106. 
Thorn, John, of Chorley, 262. 
Thompson, Rev. William, 195,205, 206. 
Thomson, Joseph, 466. 

Professor James, 22. 

Sir William, 22. 

Thornton, Richard, 230, 311. 



"Thulc," 366, 367. 

Tidman, Lev. Dr. A., ~)C>, 102, 22S. 

•• Times," The, 294. 

Tin, 80. 

Tinnr. Miss, 360, 39S, 399. 

Tobacco, 323. 

Tozer, Bishop, 320, 321, 323, 326, 374, 

400, 419. 
Transvaal, 78, 135. 
Tregear, Captain, 197. 
Trenn, Herr, 363. 
Trotter, Admiral, B.N., 196, 218. 
Tsetse, 8, 61, 83, 87, 104, 114, 117, 183, 

323. 371. 
Tunis, Bay of, 190, 197. 
Turner, J. A., of Manchester, 262. 
Turtle-dove, 373, 445. 
" Torn Brown's School Days," 355. 

Ufepa, 434. 

Ugogo Country, 448. 

Ujiji, 340, 383 et seq., 391 et seq., 419 et 
seq., 433 it seq. 

Ulenge, Lake, 383. 

Ulva Island, 1, 2, 4, 237, 342. 

Universities Mission, 247, 310, 314, 330, 
374, 400, 445, 472 ; letter to Secre- 
tary of, 216 ; Livingstone's delight at 
prospect of mission, 272, 278, 279, 
2S3, 284; recommendations for mission 
staff, 280 ; work of the mission, 282 
et seq. ; conflicts with slave-traders, 
286. 289 ; death of Bishop Mackenzie, 
293 ; Bishop Tozer succeeds Macken- 
zie, 320 ; abandonment of the mission 
on the continent, 320; resuscitation 
under Bishop Steere, 374, 469. 

Unyamwezi, 387. 

(Jnyanyembe, 3S8, 419 et seq., 433 el seq. 

Urungu, 392, 441. 

"Valorous," H. M.S., 327. 
Vardon, Major, 201, 202, 255. 
Vater, Professor, 96. 
Venn, Lev. 11., 255, 267. 
victoria Falls, 113, 179, 184, 275, 309, 
348, 467 ; discovery of, 179. 

Wagtail, 437. 

Wainwright, Jacob, 439, 447, 452. 

Jo). n, 439. 

Waiyau, 370, 373, 374. 

Waller, Bey. fforace, 284, 294, 306, 313, 

3 Hi. 326, 327, 352, 357, 379, 3S7, 427, 

445, 447, 451, 452. 
Warburg's Drops, 275. 
Wardlaw, Rev. Dr.. 20, 21, 108. 



5°4 



INDEX. 



Washington, Capt., R.N., 213, 232, 

255. 
Watson, Dr. and Miss, 343. 
Watt, Rev. G. D., 33, 50, 74; letters 

to, 37, 41, 65, 70, 82, S3, 85, 95, 102, 

103, 105, 128, 135. 
Watuta, 395. 
Webb, W. F., of Newstead Abbey, 343, 

348-348, 356, 397, 402, 452; letters 

to, 345, 353, 355, 357. 

Mrs., 343, 346. 

Mr., American Consul at Zanzibar, 

427, 439. 
Webb's River. See Lualaba. 
Wellington, Duke of, 130. 

. Duchess of, 339. 

West Luabo, or Hoskin's Branch, 247. 
Whately, Miss, 250, 360; sugar-mill, 

gift of, 267. 
Wheat, 396. 
Whydahs, 436. 

Wylde, Mr., of Foreign Office, 357. 
Wikatani, 336, 371, 375, 379. 
Wilberforce, Bishop, 29, 237, 255, 353. 
Williamson, Mrs., of Widdicombe, 367. 
Wilson, Capt., R.K, 293, 294, 297, 

302. 

Rev. Dr., Bombay, 336, 362, 364. 

Dr. George, 2, 23. 

James, 255. 

Wood, Sir Charles, 339. 
Woodruffe, Lieutenant, R.N., 194. 
Wordsworth, Mr., of Poona, 336. 

Yams, 160. 

York, Archbishop of, 353. 

Young, E. D., R.N., joins Zambesi Ex- 
pedition, 311, 316, 322; Search Ex- 
pedition, 22, 379, 399; at Living- 
stone's funeral, 452 ; Livingstonia 
Mission, 22, 469. 

James, of Kelly, 293, 328, 347 ; 

college companionship with Living- 
stone, 21 et seq. ; visited by Living- 
stone, 341 ; Livingstone names river 
after, 402 ; promotes expedition to 
assist Livingstone, 450; letters to, 218, 
237, 247, 250, 252, 261, 272, 277, 279, 
288, 313, 351, 364, 443. 

Young's River. See Lomame. 



Zambesi River, 120, 123, 166, 167, 205, 
219, 231, 234, 340, 390 ; discovery of 
Upper Zambesi, 113 ; Zambesi coun- 
try the slave-producing region, 121 ; 
variations of name, 144 ; journey 
to Loanda along the, 156 ; journey 
to Quilimane down the, 179 et seq.; 
Zambesi Expedition organised, 230 ; 
exploration of Zambesi and tribu- 
taries, 241 et seq. ; journey home 
with Makololo up the Zambesi, 265 
et seq. ; Universities Mission in Zam- 
besi district, 2 S3 et seq. ; last two 
yeai's of Zambesi Expedition, 306 
et seq. ; Livingstone leaves the Zam- 
besi, 325, 326 ; treaty with. Portugal 
for free navigation of Zambesi, 351 ; 
Livingstone wishes to establish station 
in Zambesi valley, 375 ; theory of the 
sources of Zambesi, 387 ; inundations 
of, explained, 415, 416 ; Chambeze 
mistaken for, 442; French Mission 
near head waters of, 470. 

" Zambesi and its Tributaries," 97, 244, 
276, 277, 285, 287, 290, 295, 298, 345, 
347, 358, 402. 

Zanzibar, 119, 260, 363, 397, 400, 406, 
430, 433, 439, 465 ; Universities mis- 
sion removed to, 320 ; Livingstone 
reaches, after Zambesi expedition, 
328 ; Kirk appointed consul at, 366 ; 
Livingstone arrives at, on last expedi- 
tion, 368 ; Livingstone leaves for 
Rovuma, 370 ; Stanley reaches, 418 ; 
returns to, 427 ; attendants convey 
Livingstone's body to, 446-449 ; Sir 
Bartle Frere's mission to, 462, 463. 

Sultan of, 366, 368, 370, 388, 463. 

Zeeambye or Kabompo river, 189, See 
Zambesi. 

Zomba, Mount, 256, 289. 

Zoology. See Alligators, Antelopes, Ants, 
Buffalo, Camel, Camelopard, Dezi, Dol- 
phin, Elephants, Goats, Hippopotamus, 
Hyena, Konokono, Land-fish, Lions, 
Mosquitoes, Rhinoceros, Serpents, 
Sharks, Sheep, Soko, Spring-bucks, 
Tsetse. 

Zouga river, 100-102, 104, 109, 117. 

Zunibo, ruins of Jesuit missions at, 270. 



WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 



^PRIL i8TH, 1 8 J4- 



TO BE SUNG AT THE FUNERAL 

OF 

DR. LIVINGSTONE. 



No. I o. .... .... .... Tall is" Ordinal, (page 33.) 

( ) God of Bethel, by Whose Hand 

Thy people stid are fed, 
Who through this weary pilgrimage 

I East all our fathers led ; 

Our vows, our prayers, we now present 

Before Thy Throne of grace ; 
God of our Fathers ! be the God 
h .succeeding race. 

Through each perplexing paih of life 

mdering footsteps guide : 
( rive us each day our daily bread, 
And every want provide. 

ad Thy covering wings around 
Till all our wand< 
And at our father's loved abode 
Our souls arrive in peace ! Amen. 

(Dodd 



Hymn will be sun- in the Choir, immediately after the 
. before proceeding to the Graved) 






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